Harry Potter and the Golden Needle
by xenocidender
Summary: Harry has an idea of how to break the rules of Transfiguration, and it actually might work. Maybe. Plenty of other things happen too. No slash and no pairings as yet.
1. Prologue

I do not own Harry Potter, if I did I'd be on a golf course somewhere not in school.

* * *

Our story begins in a very normal house in a very normal neighborhood. This house contained what appeared to most neighbors a normal family and on occasion a very abnormal boy. The house was 4 Privet Drive, the family was the Dursley's, and the boy was Harry Potter. Now on this fine day if you were to venture out behind that particular home in Surrey you would find a very normal sight, on this day Harry Potter was gardening.

"Another summer working as a house elf." A statement of wisdom that was mumbled by Harry to himself. It had been two weeks since arriving back from Hogwarts and everyday had been spent doing some chore even if that particular chore had served no purpose at the time. He had, in his gilded cell, mowed the Dursley's lawn a total of 7 times in two weeks. Suffice to say, Harry was not in a good mood, although the Dursley's had not mistreated him more than usual, there were many things for him to do and the least of which was not his summer homework from school. As this would be the start of his fifth year and that was the year of the tests known as OWL's, his homework load was not light. Of course, his main concern was the re-risen Dark Lord.

"Boy, get in here." Vernon Dursley, not the most pleasant of fellows, bellowed at his nephew. Harry's imposing and rather massive uncle stood glaring at his 'free-loader' nephew. It seemed that Harry had done something to aggravate his uncle, this was not unusual as it seemed that existing was Harry's main unforgivable sin.

"Coming Uncle Vernon." Harry Potter had learned long ago not to make his uncle wait, so he hurried into the house. He stopped to make sure no dirt would be tracked into the household as such things never ended well for him. Harry approached his uncle and took a stance reminiscent of a lowly officer of the Royal Navy standing in front of the Queen herself.

"Boy, we are going to my sister's for the week, you will be staying here." Vernon informed his nephew of the family vacation in a rather condescending tone. This too was not unusual as nearly every instance that Vernon Dursley ever deigned to speak to his nephew it was in a condescending tone.

"Yes Uncle Vernon." Harry was not going to ruin a week without the Dursley's.

"I have given you a list of chores, and there is food for a week. There will be no freakishness while we are gone is that understood?" This was a fairly nice arrangement, at least for Vernon. He would be away from his freakish nephew and all the other freaks and such that decided to impose themselves at his doorstep, meanwhile his nephew would be too busy to do any of his tricks that would alert the neighbors.

"Yes Uncle Vernon." Harry still wasn't going to ruin his fortuitous week away from his relatives.

"Then get to it boy." These were the final words of wisdom before the Dursley's left their home, and their nephew. Harry himself had to refrain from jumping for joy as the vehicle headed down the street.

Harry took his list of chores and began to work. The Dursley's had given him a fairly lengthy list of things to do, but through diligence and the careful skipping of several items his relatives wouldn't notice anyway Harry managed to complete his chores with some time to spare. It happened to be the fifth day of Harry's solitude when he actually finished with the list of chores his uncle had given him.

Now as lazy as Harry sometimes was in school, he was not given to doing so while at the Dursley's because such things were given to have unattractive consequences. So Harry pulled out his school trunk using the handy knife Sirius had given him to do his homework for the summer. Harry began with his charms homework which after a little research in his book turned out to be fairly easy, then he moved onto Astronomy and then Herbology which were both rather easy assignments which asked only to parrot information from the relevant book. History of Magic was a subject Harry just didn't care about so that left Transfiguration and Potions as his last two assignments for the summer. After developing a slightly more than healthy disdain for Potions, Harry decided that transfiguration would be the first choice.

_Transfiguration Summer Assignment_

_The student will explain Gamp's Fifth Principle Exception of Elemental Transfiguration, it will include both a comprehensive overview of the law as well as several examples of the principle in action, finally the student will conclude the essay with a theory of his or her own which describes why the principle exists. This theory may be a expansion or a combination of theories provided within the text. There is no length requirement for this essay; however, an essay less than eighteen inches of parchment will need to be of more than outstanding quality to merit a passing grade._

_Professor Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress, Hogwarts_

Harry let out a rather loud groan at the reading of this assignment, it was exactly the kinda of assignment both McGonagall and Hermione would love. Harry was not either of those people. He was the practical wizard, such a temperament had allowed him to survive this far into his life. In other words if he couldn't use it to escape Voldemort or whatever evil thing happened to be after him at the time Harry did not care. Unfortunately, he still had to do the assignment.

"I'm gonna need somewhere more comfortable to sit." Harry decided that a move to couch in the TV room was needed. Packing up all that he had laid out around him, Harry moved. Once resettled in his new location, it was unanimously decided by himself that in order to prevent his brain from becoming mush, the TV should be on to distract his mind when studying became too much. He quickly turned on the television and turned to a documentary so the program would not be so interesting as to distract him from his study.

_Intermediate Transfiguration, pg 238_

_Gamp's Fifth Principle Exception of Elemental Transfiguration_

_It is impossible to transfigure any object into gold, unless the object was originally composed of gold. Similarly, it is impossible to transfigure an object made of gold into another object of base composition other than gold._

Harry did not know exactly how important that principle would come to be in the future. Regardless he set to work looking through the book attempting to find evidence of why the transfiguration to or from gold was impossible, in the text there were numerous entries of failed attempts with disasterous results when attempting to transfigure something either from or to gold. Barnaby the Unlucky ended up with bits of chamber pot embedded in his abdomen while trying to transfigure it into gold. Gabriel the Spotted was the unfortunate enough to become covered in pimples after he attempted to transfigure a golden egg, which he had stolen the day before and was attempting to hide from the Aurors who believed he was responsible.

After searching for about a half hour and finding numerous instances of failed attempts and quite a bit of conjecture at why each incident happened. The problem Harry discovered was each theory posed for an incident seemed at some points to disagree with previous theories. Harry was becoming rather frustrated. "I guess this is why we're supposed to come up with a theory." It was at that point the television decided to make it's own foray into the world of magic, or at least relative to the magical theory Harry was currently examining.

"_All matter in the universe is similar, and the most basic parts of all matter are the same. Every piece of matter are made up of atoms and each of these atoms is made up of particles, and all atoms are made up of the same particles just in different number and orientation."_

"What?" the thought that suddenly everything was the same was a very new thought to a fourteen almost fifteen year old boy who had left the Muggle world educationally at eleven years of age. He of course knew about atoms and elements but they were abstract ideas to him of which he did not know any theory behind. Now he knew just a small sliver of that theory and it contradicted everything his book had been telling him. The Muggles knew that everything was in it's most basic form the same, or different combinations of the same things. Of course this did not mean that magically every element was the same, but if the Muggles could describe each element as the sum of it's parts then why was gold magically any different that iron?

"If you could manipulate the particles themselves then it should be possible to transfigure any element into any other element, shouldn't you?" Harry was for the first time in his magical life, academically curious. The Dursley's had at a very early age decided that Harry was not as smart as their Dudders, and they had made sure that Harry both knew it and acted like it.

However, contrary to what many would call him, Harry was not stupid. He had acquired his parents intelligence, but he had never applied himself in the Wizarding World. He was famous and did not want to be and those to conflicting elements prompted him to do just well enough not to stand out among his peers. Harry Potter was content to be lost in the fray of thirty schoolmates.

After avidly watching the documentary, Harry decided to investigate further and immediately went to the computer the Dursley's had bought Dudley. Harry was sure that this computer had never been used for anything other than Doom, but that did not stop him. He pulled out the disks which came with the Hewlett Packard PC, and upon searching the stack he wandered upon a disc called Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia and promptly searched it for atoms, gold, and any other element which he could come up with. After several hours of searching and taking notes, in a notebook which he pilfered from Dudley's unused and in most cases unopened school supplies, he felt he was ready to write his essay.

_Gamp's Fifth Principle Exception of Elemental Transfiguration, by Harry Potter_

_. . . There are many theories which explain why it is impossible to transfigure to gold and most of them have to do with something elementally different about gold than any other element. There is no real evidence for this theory except that there is no record of anyone having transfigured something from or to gold. Many people have tried and all recorded instances have failed, but all matter is made up of atoms, all atoms are made up of particles of which there are three kinds. Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons are the basis for every gas, liquid, and solid that exists and by manipulating the arrangement of these particles is should be possible to transfigure any element into any other element including gold._

Harry was nervous about how his essay would be received but decided that even if McGonagall gave the paper a T it was only one grade over the course of a year, and that it would be his OWL scores which mattered for the next year anyway. He wanted to test his theory but since he was not allowed to do magic out of school a fact illustrated quite dramatically when Dobby decided to levitate the pudding, he would have to wait until much later.

* * *

Later in the evening after completing his essay and eating, Harry returned to his room.

"Hedwig, still nothing from my friends?" It had been two weeks and Harry had not heard the slightest peep from any of his friends or his godfather. He was beginning to wonder whether they had decided that he was better off with no knowledge of anything. "Best to keep me ignorant apparently." Deciding to send several letters asking what was going on, he quickly wrote three letters. The first to Sirius who Harry felt was the best chance of actual information. The second letter he wrote to Hermione which he expected would return a letter about homework, and asking if he was alright. The last letter went to Ron which he knew would be returned with three sentences at least two of which mentioned Quidditch. He sighed as he sent Hedwig off to his friends. Afterward the Boy-Who-Lived lie down and slept dreaming of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament as he had each and every day since he had watched Cedric Diggory die, but this night he would also catch glimpses of something more.

* * *

It was a much darker atmosphere in the commons of Riddle Manor in Little Hangleton, the darkness dominated by a single snake-like figure. Tom Marvolo Riddle, known better as Lord Voldemort, was happy or at least as happy as he could be.

"Lucius, how does the plan move forward." The snake-like figure moved away from his throne toward his most trusted figure.

"We have found location, but are unable to get to it. The Order guards the doorway around the clock." Lucius Malfoy, father of Draco Malfoy and quite possibly the only person on the planet smarmier than Snape, at least in Harry's opinion, spoke with his head bowed.

"Very well, we will patient for now." The red eyes moved from his follower to look at the rest of his inner circle. It was true that not working in the open was an inconvenience, but the Ministry denying his return hindered Dumbledore and his Order much more than Riddle himself was hindered. So for now he would work in shadow, and remain a ghost in the minds of the wizards and witches about the countryside.

* * *

The situation in a location that couldn't be found except by those who knew where it was, was a bit more tense to say the least.

"I don't like keeping Harry in the dark, it isn't right, and it isn't fair that we ask of him what we do and then give him nothing in return" spoke Harry's godfather, and possibly the only person in the world who cared only for Harry without a thought to the Wizarding world. He did spend twelve years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, so it is possible that Sirius Black might have just been pissed at the Wizarding World.

"Sirius, he's a child, we don't ask anything of him. We are here to protect him as we should" returned the voice of one Molly Weasley.

"He isn't a child at least not like you are making him out to be. He faced Voldemort when he was eleven, and killed a basilisk a year later. He deserves to know" Sirius, always the stubborn one, had been unwilling to give an inch on this subject for the entirety of the Order's stay at his place of residence.

"Dumbledore said we weren't to worry him with the information we get, and that it was a matter of security that any information we have be kept in the strictest confidence" shot Dedalus Diggle one of the older members of the Order. In part he agreed that keeping Harry in the dark could be dangerous, but he trusted Dumbledore's judgement for now.

"Dumbledore isn't always right, I'm proof of that. Harry has been put in life threatening situations at least once every year since he started Hogwarts, it stands to reason that it will happen again this year. He cannot make the best decisions unless he has information, he is flying blind and eventually it's going to get him killed." Sirius put forth the best chance he had at convincing people that Harry should be told but he knew that it wasn't going to be enough, not yet anyway.

His statement fairly well ended that conversation since it was both true and also because no one wanted to come within ten feet of discussing Sirius's time in Azkaban. The second reason the conversation ended there was the arrival of Emmeline Vance with a familiar snowy owl.

Once in sight of Sirius the owl took flight and deftly landed on the shoulder of her master's godfather, and promptly bit his ear.

"Ow, so Harry is a bit annoyed with me?" Sirius asked the owl a question which in reality he already knew the answer to. He quickly took and read the small piece of parchment from the owl and as he suspected and Hedwig had already confirmed, Harry was annoyed.

_Dear Sirius,_

_The Dursley's are treating me alright this year, they have mostly been giving me chores and then leaving me alone. In fact I seem to be alone in almost every sense of the word at the moment._

_Is there some reason people seem to be ignoring me? I guess I can understand leaving me out of things, and not updating me on Voldemort's plans, since it isn't me he's after. Wait, it is me he's after. I guess since I'm not risking my life against him. No, I am the one risking my life against him so that one doesn't work either._

_Maybe there isn't anything to know, but I think that if there was nothing to know then you would tell me that, so I don't think that one works either._

_When I get out of my cage, I will want a few answers._

_Harry Potter_

_Boy-Who-Lived, Defender-Of-Stones-Of-Immortality, Slayer-Of-Basilisks, Co-Champion of the Triwizard Tournament, Voldemort's #1 Target, and your Godson_

_P.S. Patience is not my best virtue._

Despite himself, Sirius winced. Harry was very, very annoyed. And it was only going to get worse.

* * *

AN: Alright that's the prologue. I just wanted to give a bit of background information on where we are right now in the story. It is very early in the summer, though I will skip quite a bit of time in the next couple chapters because I don't think you guys would appreciate a play by play on Harry's chores, nor do I want to give to much away about the plot. Obviously fifth year, and obviously the prophecy exists otherwise I'll be making a few changes to the actual plot line on OOTP.

This is not a HarryVector story they are just going to be the eventual main characters. I haven't decided on a pairing for Harry yet. Cho is unresolved so I will get to that. It will not be HarryGinny or HarryHermione. It will also not be slash.

Finally please do not comment on mistakes in Harry's theory of transfiguration or magic or something like that. His idea is not perfect, I'm telling you right now. He's a fourteen almost fifteen year old boy who has a theory, it will be wrong, but that doesn't mean it won't be more correct than the previous theory.


	2. Chapter 1

I don't own Harry Potter nor any event that ever happened in canon. Golf I'm telling you, golf.

* * *

Harry Potter sat on the swings of the local park attempting to reason why he had still not received any letters from his so-called friends, or his godfather. He would say security except at this point he was fairly sure he was being watched by some one, and being that he had not as of yet been attacked he figured that those watching him were at least moderately friendly. He couldn't be absolutely sure he was being watched but there were definite times when he turned around expecting some one only to find nothing there.

"Hey Potter, what you doing here?" Harry groaned to himself hearing the approach and calls of Dudley and his gang. This was assuredly not going to be a good day.

"Hey Potter, why don't ya talk? Are you to stupid to talk?" Piers Polkiss taunted Harry. Harry decided he was being especially brave as it was only five against one at the moment.

"Potter, you freak are you deaf?" Dudley now, but after years of taunts and comments Harry had learned to block it out. "Are you missing Cedric?" Most of it that is. Harry's head swung toward Dudley and gave a glare that promised pain should this line of taunts continue.

"I heard you calling out for him last night, 'Cedric no, run Cedric,' then you screamed like a girl." Dudley wasn't going to be cowed, when it was five verses one, especially since Harry without the use of magic had no way to defend himself.

"Shut up Dudders" Harry used one of Petunia's pet names for a reason, it would distract Dudley from his current line of thought, but there was a problem with taking this particular route. Now he had to run.

"Don't call me that! I think it's time for a bit of Harry Hunting boys, get 'em!" Even before Dudley managed to comprehend Harry's previous statement, Harry was off and had a ten meter lead before any of Dudley's lackies reacted. Harry knew neither Dudley nor Polkiss was the problem at this point, he could easily outrun both. No, now the problem was John Stevens, the only real athlete among Dudley's thugs. John was easily 6 inches taller than Harry and nearly as thin which is saying something considering Harry's malnutrition. If it weren't for Dudley and Piers' strength John would probably lead the gang.

Four of the five gang members quickly fell well behind from the race chasing Harry, they were depending on John to catch him.

"Come on Potter, you know you aren't faster than me, just give up" Harry took a quick look back at Stevens who was gaining slowly but surely. He knew he couldn't flat outrun the athlete, and so he made a quick turn into the yard at Number 7. In a sprint he'd lose but across country it was possible that he might escape.

A quick jump over the wood fence behind the house and he was off again, another quick look back told him that the turn and jump had bought him a few more seconds he just needed to use them. Up ahead a grove of trees signaled the beginning of Woking, if he could evade long enough he would disappear in the wood.

Another sharp turn through the yard of a farmhouse on the left, and over the rickety fence on the North side bought more time.

"Potter I'll catch you sooner or later I'm gonna catch you" Stevens had just vaulted over the fence which was easier for him to do but because he had momentarily lost sight of of Harry he was now a good twenty meters behind. Harry was fast approaching the trees, which prompted John to put on a burst of speed sprinting to catch Harry before he made sanctuary in the maze of trees ahead.

Harry looked back more and more alarmed each time, twenty meters became fifteen, and fifteen became ten. At five meters Harry finally hit the trees, and he immediately took more notice of his footing. Harry's low center of gravity would greatly benefit him in here, where he could make sharp turns, he just had to take care not to fall. Slowly the distance between the two opened up from five to ten, ten to fifteen, and fifteen to more. Eventually Stevens lost sight of Harry and he didn't reappear.

"You might have gotten away for now Potter, but we'll be waiting. You have to come back sometime." Stevens took one last shot before turning around and walking back toward Little Whinging. He didn't know that Harry had stopped and was watching him around a tree not to far away.

After waiting several minutes for Stevens to get well out of hearing range, Harry continued North toward Woking. Harry knew one thing above the others if he showed up on Privet Drive anytime soon the consequences would not be pleasant. Dudley and Piers would be especially angry at missing the chance to soften up their favorite punching bag. So Harry walked. When he hit Westfield Road he continued North into town.

* * *

Approaching a small row of shops and feeling rather hungry after his run, Harry decided to spend most of what little money he had on a bit of food. Heading into an Inn on the side of the road he was immediately assaulted, but in a good way. The smell of fresh food was quite potent within the restaurant section.

"Hey, just one?" the waitress immediately questioned.

"Yeah just me."

"Alright then I'll seat you right over here." She led him to a table at the corner a window on the west side." Harry was immediately grateful for this table out, both out of the way and in a place no one could approach without first being seen by himself. After handing him a menu and taking his drink order, a Coke since they didn't serve pumpkin juice, Harry settled in and relaxed for what seemed like the first time in months.

His relaxation however was going to be disturbed and probably not in a way he would have hoped for.

". . .'m telling you it's him. I'd know him anywhere." Harry turned his head at the muffled voice but couldn't place its source. His head dropped to the table in a groan. What were the odds of walking into a random restaurant several miles from his home where he had never actually seen a witch or wizard, excluding of course those who'd arrived at his door, and being recognized. That thought perked him up a bit figuring that just maybe, today he might have enough luck that whoever it was did not mean him.

"I'm not that lucky, at least where my life isn't on the line" he grumbled to himself.

To Harry's delight, no one approached except the waitress who arrived with his drink and took his order. Another few minutes went by, and while Harry caught several random bits from the conversations around him he heard nothing that he thought necessarily applied to him. Though it was true there was a rather rude couple two tables away that were speaking about the grubby misguided youth of the day. He figured that was probably about him.

Then he saw it. Approaching at his ten o'clock was a girl who appeared to be about his age based on height and . . . development, she had reddish brown hair pushed back in a plait, and was wearing dark clothing what appeared to be denim jeans but it was hard to tell due to obstructions and the dimness of the light due to the inn relying mostly on light from the windows which were at Harry's side and made it difficult for his eyes to adjust. Next to the girl however was a taller and older woman, though she looked to be younger than McGonagall, this woman carried herself stiffly and and walked with purpose which made Harry think of a noble woman of times long over. Great that meant magicals, and that meant they were headed over toward him for more than just the empty table in front of him.

"Hi Harry, what are you doing here?" Now that she had approached Harry recognized her as Susan Bones a Hufflepuff from his class.

"Uh. . . Hi Susan. Eating?" Harry promptly concluded in the privacy of his own mind that he was an idiot.

"I gathered that Harry, but I've never seen you here before." Susan giggled while replying.

Thirty seconds into the conversation and Harry had concluded that not only was he an idiot, but he was also Fate's court jester.

"I . . . Er haven't been here before, I was running from my cousin and ended up here." Great now he wasn't just an idiot, he was a coward too. At this point the older woman on Susan's left decided to save Harry anymore embarrassment, or she just wanted Harry to know who he was making a fool out of himself in front of, in either case she prompted Susan by coughing.

"Oh, I'm sorry Harry this is my Aunty Amelia Bones." Susan introduced the lady who was currently scrutinizing Harry's dress for the day.

"Uh . . . Hi Lady Bones." Harry offered his greeting to Amelia. Harry's opinion of himself only got worse when his offered greeting roused a chuckle from its intended recipient.

"Lady Bones? That's a new one, don't worry Harry you aren't being judged yet. Call me Amelia."

Now most men would relax a bit after hearing a woman say they weren't being judged; however, after being judged his whole life and many times judged before even being introduced, Harry was understandably slightly frightened by this reply. His look must have signaled this as once again Amelia laughed.

Now it is important to interject that men do not innately possess the ability to understand women. Cars, TV's, sports, and even the occasional VCR are things which the average man does possess an innate ability to understand to at least a working level. Women does not and probably will not ever appear on that list. Keeping that knowledge at the front of the mind it is possible to forgive Harry for the fact that now several minutes into the conversation the women in question were still standing at the side of the table.

"May we sit down Harry?" prompted Susan after looking at Harry with a bit of meaning. Harry's mind once again made a decision, in addition to being an idiot and a coward, he was now inconsiderate as well.

"Oh! Yes, of course. I'm sorry!" Harry immediately tried to recover to the immense enjoyment of the two women now sitting opposite him. After seeing this reaction, Harry's head quickly and rather solidly me the table, and it did not rise. Several seconds passed in which the ladies thought he might have fainted before he finally spoke, with his head still on the table, "Susan, I know we don't know each other too well, but can you just put me out of my misery right now."

That was the statement that finally cracked the facade that both women had been struggling, rather unsuccessfully to hold, and both cracked up in laughter. Seeing the Chosen One stumble all over himself was rather amusing to both.

"Relax Harry this isn't the Spanish Inquisition. I promise Aunty won't put you in the stocks." Susan still openly laughing at Harry's misfortune.

"Thanks Susan" Harry returned half-heartedly if even that.

"So Harry you said your cousin chased you here." Amelia was curious about that. The exact facts of Harry Potter's living arrangements were not known to the general public, nor were they generally know in the Ministry. Only those who Dumbledore absolutely needed to tell knew, and those were sworn to secrecy. According to Dumbledore it was for Harry's own protection, but Amelia was not so sure of that.

"Uh . . . Not really my cousin actually a member of his gang chased me. Dudley just decided that it would be a good day for Harry Hunting I suppose." Harry wasn't exactly sure why he was saying all this even Ron and Hermione didn't know much about his home life other than the Dursley's didn't treat him with the best of care. For some odd reason he trusted the women in front of him.

"Harry Hunting?" The question was put forth by Susan who couldn't really picture someone wanting to bully the Boy-Who-Lived, other than Draco Malfoy of course.

"His favorite game, invented it way back when we might have been six or seven, maybe even before that." Harry was a bit more unsure at that and didn't really want to give too much information away.

Amelia and Susan saw Harry start to choose his words a bit more careful and decided not to push immediately. They hoped they might get him to open up a bit more later. It was at this time that the waitress returned with Harry's order and after asking if Susan and Amelia were joining him, and whether or not they were having the usual, returned to the kitchen.

"So, Harry how has your summer been going otherwise?" Susan was the first to break from silence and try to restart the conversation.

"Not bad, I've actually got most of my homework done this year, so I guess Hermione won't be lecturing me on the evils of waiting till the night before." Harry chuckled at the thought because he was sure that Hermione would be lecturing some one.

"Oh really I'm almost done too, everything except Transfiguration. Can you believe were supposed to come up with our own theory of why you can't transfigure something to gold. We aren't all Ravenclaws." Susan seemed rather frustrated, but still managed to make a joke so Harry figured she wasn't having as much trouble as she wanted it to appear. There was also the small smile on Madam Bones's face to consider.

"I think McGonagall is trying to get us to consider the various theories, because of the way they seem to contradict each other at various points." Harry acted like he had done the assignment that McGonagall had requested, not sure he wanted to tell his theory in case they laughed at him again.

"I think so to, but like you said they contradict each other a lot. Argh. I don't know." After seeing Susan's huff, Harry couldn't help but laugh. He also noticed Amelia hiding here mouth behind her hand. This was obviously some continuing rant from earlier.

"Well what did you put down Harry?" He was sure had a mirror been handy he would have seen the color drain from his face.

"Er . . . Uh . . . I" Harry could only stutter trying to think of a way out of answering Susan's question.

"Oh, come on Harry I'm not going to steal your answer." Susan looked pretty put off by Harry's reaction.

"No it isn't that Susan, it's . . ." Harry trailed off again, still unsure.

"Well what?" A determined look now graced the face of the petite Hufflepuff.

"I wrote that you coulfn" Harry tried to hedge by coughing on the last word, but seeing an unamused look plastered on the Hufflepuff's face he continued, "I wrote that you could."

Both women's jaws made great progress toward the floor of the establishment.

"You wrote that you could?" This response was from Amelia who if possible was now looking at Harry as if he might have lost his mind at some point.

"Er, kinda. I wrote that I believed it was possible." Harry struggled to find a way to tell the Pure-blooded witches, that he suspected had never heard of Protons or Electrons, the reasons he thought it was possible. "I think that it is possible to transfigure wood into metal, then why wouldn't it be possible to transfigure metal into another kind of metal?"

"Harry it's . . ." Susan trailed off, searching for a way to explain that it isn't possible.

". . . never been done before. Yeah, I know, but every object is made up of some very small parts, which are the same no matter what the object is made out of." Now both of the witches were really looking at him like he was crazy, though in fairness he had just said that two objects that aren't made out of the same substance are made out of the same substance. "Look. Susan, Amelia I can't really explain it, I just think it's possible."

"Harry, around a hundred years ago there was a team of Unspeakables which was attempting to bypass Gamp's last exception, a group of ten individuals, five of them died in the attempt." Amelia informed Harry with a very grave expression. "Whether you think it might be possible or not, please do not try it Harry."

* * *

As delighted as the Bones were to talk with Harry during lunch, his absence from Privet Drive was not taken so well by other members of the magical community. In a hidden manor residing between numbers 11 and 13 a lively discussion was taken place as to the whereabouts and condition of one Harry Potter.

"I was on guard duty at the park, Potter was sitting on the swings not forty feet from me." Mundungus Fletcher, one of the more unusual members of the Order, carefully tried to explain exactly how he lost the Chosen One.

"We know that Fletcher, where did he go after the swing set? He didn't just disappear into thin air!" Every head snapped to speaker because, like Albus Dumbledore, when Alastor Moody spoke you listened.

"Well yeh see, I had ta get to a place and meet a guy." Fletcher had at this point dropped the respectable citizen act and slid into slightly more unsavory waters.

"Are you telling me that you abandoned guard duty? Why? Why would you do that? We have been attempting to protect Harry Potter all summer and you abandon your post in the middle of the day!" It was easy to see and most could hear, including those not expressly allowed, that Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody was pissed. In fact he was well past pissed and had passed into livid.

"Well what do we do? We don't have the manpower on duty to go searching for him." Attempting to calm the room so that a logical decision could be reached was Remus Lupin.

"Remus, what else can we do? We can't wait for Harry to go back to Privet Drive, he might be kidnapped by You-Know-Who." Molly Weasley was near frantic at the thought of one of her children unprotected with You-Know-Who on the loose.

"Molly it makes no sense for us to attempt to find him, Voldemort doesn't know where Harry lives during the summer. Albus has seen to his location's secrecy. If we go down there in force to search for Harry it will bring unwanted attention. People will wonder exactly what we're looking for." Remus's argument was at this point both the most logical and the most aggravating, after all he wanted to wait.

"I agree let the kid have some time away from his relatives. He's been cooped up with them for close to two months now and he's got to be getting bloody close to wire-happy." Sirius spoke with logic, something very odd for him. Remus was wondering whether or not they should call one of the Order's Healers to take a look at him.

"There are no wizarding homes for miles around Surrey, which is part of the reason the location was a good place for Harry to live."

Unnoticed by all but one person in the room, a man who rarely got anywhere without being swarmed had slipped into the room. He was watching the conversation and taking in each opinion as they came because as soon as he made his presence known the freedom of replies would stop and all would look to him. Such was the burden of authority.

"I'm sure Harry is fine and when he returns we will impress upon him the need to stay within the wards and not to run off when he decides he wants to get away." The calming tones of Albus Dumbledore swept around the room.

"So we wait?" Minerva McGonagall always practical and thorough.

"We will wait around Number 4 for Harry's return." With that the discussion was over and the few witches and wizards currently at headquarters left for Little Whinging. Unfortunately for them, they would be waiting a fair amount of time before Harry Potter returned.

* * *

Harry was happy, which was a very odd occurrence during the summer and away from Hogwarts. There were several reasons why he was happy the most important of which was Harry Potter was for the second time that summer not within a two mile radius of the Dursley's. Talking to Amelia and Susan Bones was nice too.

". . . Harry, Harry. Harry!" The yelling witch snapped Harry from his reverie. His mind added rude to his mental list for the day.

"Er. . . Sorry I faded off there for a moment." He tried to apologize to his company for lunch and did so with a decently guilty look.

"That's okay Harry, Susan and I were going to go shopping and wondered if you'd like to join us for awhile?" Harry was conflicted to say the least. On one hand, he still did not want to go back to the Dursley's and have a good chance of getting knocked around by Dudley and his gang for awhile. On the other hand there are certain places it is just bred into a man to be afraid of and shopping is definitely one of them.

"I wouldn't want to bother you, and I probably should be headed back to my relatives here pretty soon." Neither witch really seemed to eager to let him go just yet, and those feelings were quite obvious when eyes narrowed at Harry's response.

"Nonsense Harry, we invited you so you wouldn't be a bother."

That was how Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and apparently public enemy number two according to the Daily Prophet anyway, came to be in Diagon Alley on that day in July.

* * *

The scene back at the place that couldn't be found by those not told, was a bit more frantic. It had been nearly two hours since any confirmed contact with Harry Potter, and that was cause for great concern. Most of the order had returned after an hour at Privet Drive figuring that only a few were needed and the rest could be alerted when Harry decided to arrive back at his home. An elderly witch approached the meeting room door able to hear conversation some conversation from the other side.

"He's probably just having a relaxing day outside, it isn't like anyone could find him anyway."

"That isn't the point, it is dangerous for him to be out and about right now."

"With You-Know-Who laying low it isn't anymore dangerous than it . . ."

"Albus, Harry Potter has just turned up in Diagon Alley." A rather rumpled Minerva McGonagall had stormed into the meeting room and with her statement effectively stopped all manner of conversation.

The leader of Light also known as Albus Dumbledore was more than a little surprised that Harry had made it to Diagon Alley, the boy had never left his home for the wizarding world apart from his third year accidental magic. Since he was sure there had been no accidental magic anywhere in the vicinity of Privet Drive, with the current political climate accidental or not there would be harsh consequences, Harry must be there for some other reason.

"Minerva, Remus, and myself will apparate to Diagon Alley and then escort him back to Privet Drive." With that said the three left the place unknown for places known.

* * *

Two witches and a wizard had been having an enjoyable day so far. They had made a quick stop at Gringotts and were know trying to decide exactly where to start. Harry was hoping that the answer wasn't Madam Malkin's because, well just because.

"Harry do you want to start at a specific shop, go to the apothecary and get your ingredients, or do you want to go to the bookstore and pick up your school books." Harry wasn't sure exactly how to answer that because no one had every really asked him for his opinion in these matters, he had almost always just been directed to such places as he needed to go.

"I . . . Er . . don't really have my book list so I can't pick up my school books, and the same goes for the potions ingredients I'll need. So I can just follow you and you can choose."

"What do you mean you don't have your book list or ingredients they were mailed weeks ago, do you not remember what they are because I'm sure Susan's list is very similar." The response got him thinking about his peculiar absence of mail again. He idly wondered whether Dumbledore had enlisted Dobby to block his mail again.

"I haven't gotten it yet, actually I haven't really gotten any mail this summer." His response must not have been the right one because there was a large frown on the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's face.

"You haven't gotten any mail? Well then we'll simply get the books we can based on Susan's list." With that said the three headed for Flourish and Blott's.

Had the three stayed in that spot several moments longer they would have caught sight of three people, two rather distinguished and the other a bit on the shabby side, arriving at Diagon Alley looking for Harry Potter.

"Well where do we start looking? Doge told me he had entered Gringotts, so he's surely done there now."

"I should think that Harry will be in either Quality Quidditch Supplies or Magical Menagerie, why don't you two search there and I shall search the Alley in-case Harry leaves some other shop." In truth he knew Harry was not in either shop. He had seen a glimpse of the infamous Potter hair headed towards Flourish and Blott's. However he decided it would be better if Harry did not feel cornered by those around him. Albus Dumbledore knew Harry Potter, if nothing else that can be said.

With the departure of McGonagall and Lupin to the stores they were to search, Albus Dumbledore made his way to the book store to have what was assuredly not going to be a pleasant conversation.

* * *

"Harry, you're going to need Defensive Magical Theory and The Standard Book of Spells Grade 5, is there anything else you would like to pick up while we are here?" Amelia Bones was nothing if not efficient.

"Um, I'd like a more advanced book on Transfiguration theory." A hard stare from Amelia was Harry's reward for that response.

"Very well, I should think The Theory of Change by Selena Lovegood should suffice. A witch who while not attempting to transfigure gold did have several interesting theories similar to what you have described." Harry was sure he had heard the name before, but could not place where. Still he was thankful that Madam Bones had helped find a book that might be useful, since he had no idea where to start.

The three spent a bit more time looking and when all was thought to be done headed for the counter to pay for their purchase. The headmaster arrived at the shop just in time to see Harry finish paying for his three books.

"Ah, Harry my boy, I see you are finishing up here and that is good as I think it is about time for you to return to your relatives." The usual twinkle shown brightly in the Headmaster's eye.

"No." That was an unexpected reply, as usually Harry acquiesced to most any request made by Dumbledore.

"Harry, it is dangerous for you to be in public now that Voldemort is back" the reply from the Headmaster was direct and to the point. Though after being ignored by everyone he knew for two months Harry was in a less than agreeable mood when confronted with said witches and wizards.

"According to Amelia there have been no confirmed sightings of Voldemort or any Death Eaters since the end of school, I think it is safe to say that Voldemort is laying low for the time being." Actually Harry knew Voldemort was laying low as he had already seen it in a dream he was sure wasn't a dream.

"I see, but Harry there are still other dangers and you being in public may give Tom the perfect chance, and you really shouldn't run away from your home in the first place." This was a move well known to most anyone who knew Harry, due to his upbringing it had become rather easy to chastise the boy as he invariably took any thing to be his fault.

"Now, Albus I don't think he would take the chance as it is very likely that Harry would escape an encounter in the alley and Voldemort would be outed long before he wished to be, and besides Harry did not run away. If I remember correctly, and I assure you I do, he was chased away" interjected Madam Bones.

"Ah, Amelia forgive me I did not see you there" replied Dumbledore, again the grandfatherly twinkle made itself known.

"Albus do stop that absurd twinkle I knew you before you grew that obscene beard, now you can run back to your Order and inform them that Harry is safe and is at present accompanying myself and Susan around the Alley." With that she ushered the stated teens out the door and on to the next store. Albus Dumbledore was, perhaps for the first time in years, speechless. It had been a very long time since anyone had brushed him off. Deciding that he would not win a second encounter in this instance and that a tactical retreat was the best option, the former Head of the Wizengamot left to retrieve his subordinates.

Harry on the other hand was feeling rather dumbfounded as no one had ever really defended him like that against anyone. That was not to say it wasn't a good feeling. For the rest of the afternoon Harry accompanied the Bones's around the alley and when it was time to go back to Privet Drive, Amelia decided to escort him. Now Amelia Bones was raised to be prim and proper as a Lady of a Noble house, her reaction to the Dursley's was not the most pleasant of experiences. Harry however, thought that encounter was hilarious.

* * *

"Boy, get in the house and make dinner!" The bellow came from a rather red faced Vernon Dursley, "And leave your freak friends by the street!" Amelia Bones was not happy. That can be said without hesitation after all who would be happy after being called a freak. Harry immediately had a vision of Vernon being turned into a rather pudgy donkey. That is another story in itself.

With a quick, "Wait here Harry," Amelia was off to give the whale of a man a stern talking to. It was not McGonagall stern, it was more screaming pissed off female stern which makes bully's quiver. Harry lazily thought that his mother might have done about the same thing, at least the way some people described her temper, and his.

Catching only parts of the conversation, the occasional "Why I never!", "You should be ashamed!" and any number of other things some of which really weren't completely proper, Harry decided that he should invite Amelia over again as his uncle was now a nice shade of puce.

Eventually Amelia's momentum dropped and she stopped her reaming of Harry's uncle, who was now a vibrant shade of off-white probably due to the rather graphic description of things she could do as the Head of the DMLE. After confirming that Vernon was well and cowed, Amelia returned to Harry to offer him a polite goodbye. After doing so she apparated away and Harry made his way to the house.

"Good evening Uncle Vernon" stated Harry as he walked right by his still stationary uncle. He continued up the stairs and into his room closing the door quietly and laying down to read.

* * *

AN:I'm guessing this Author's Note is going to be a bit long, but I have a few things to cover to rectify what might be misconceptions from the story. I will do them in order.

First, obviously I've taken out the Dementor scene. I did this because it always seemed to be a rather stupid move by Umbridge. I think that because given any number of possible ways Harry could prove that they were there, Veritaserum anyone? Then after confirming that the Dementors were in fact in Privet Drive and that would easily trace back to the Ministry. Umbridge will still be the DADA teacher as I demonstrated with the book, she just won't be quite as stupid.

Second, this is a long and boring chapter where nothing really happens. Trust me, I know. I wrote it. In my defense I had to. Simply put both of the Bones will be fairly important later in the story I'll get to that in a bit. Seeing as how Amelia only had one real part in canon and after that is only mentioned in passing, I had to write her into the story somehow and give the audience some background for her character otherwise it's gonna be a bit odd when she shows up later. Susan on the other hand is mentioned several times and even interacts with Harry; however, canon leaves her as very much a blank slate so I can mold the character a bit.

My Reasons for the characters

Amelia: Included because she has influence and is not under Dumbledore's thumb so to speak. Simply put almost everyone who is explored in canon is either Dumbledore's or helps Voldemort directly or indirectly. See Fudge and Scrimgoer. Amelia is a third party who isn't evil and isn't Dumbledore's. She isn't just going to accept Dumbledore's answer of Harry is safe at the Dursley's.

Susan: Don't start thinking this is gonna be HarrySusan, I still haven't made a decision on the pairing if any, and in any event that is a bit ways down the road because Harry is still wholly uncomfortable around girls. Though I will say that she is one of the options I have listed. The current plan is that Susan will be a kind of neutral friend somebody who Harry can bounce ideas off of who will give an honest opinion and is his intellectual equal. Hermione can't do it because she only considers what is and not what might be. She puts too much stock in books. Luna, yes obviously Luna will appear in the story, can't do it because she's too out there and Harry wouldn't understand what she was talking about. Ron can't do it because he's Ron. Finally Ginny can't do it . . . well because I really just don't see that happening.

So that's why I did this chapter the way I did. Yes, there will be a chapter much like it to introduce Professor Vector since all we have of her is a name and a subject. For that matter canon doesn't even give a first name.


	3. Chapter 2

I don't own Harry Potter, and probably wouldn't be writing this story if I did.

A loud "Oof" woke Harry Potter as he slept in his bed, and a murmur of "Quiet!" brought him fully into reality. He took a quick look around to find that he couldn't see anything, nor could he see anything after he remembered to put on his glasses. This can of course be excused by the fact that it was the middle of the night and Harry Potter was not accustomed to using a night light. Quickly grabbing his wand and taking shelter behind his bed in case of an attack, he settled down to wait. He did not have to wait long.

"Alohomora." The unlocking spell. Harry decided that was a good thing since it meant he didn't need to start firing hexes off quite yet. He suspected Death Eaters would have either just destroyed the house or at least his door.

"Harry you in there?" "Moody at least light your wand so we can see!" Several other muffled voices were also heard but those were the only two he could make out right then.

"Lumos." The spell quickly lit the littlest bedroom in 4 Privet Drive finally illuminating the intruders. Both Remus Lupin and Alastor Moody were among the witches and wizards outside his door.

"Harry we've come to move you to headquarters." That was the voice of Remus Lupin and he appeared to be himself. Since there was no attack yet it probably was, but Harry had long ago stopped trying to find reason in Voldemort's moves. Especially after last year. Instead of the Fake Moody kidnapping him at the earliest private moment and moving, he first gained his trust and created an elaborate plan which required an eventual reality of Harry winning the Triwizard Tournament to be completed. Then again, it had worked.

"What memory did I first use to cast the Patronus against the Dementor." A leading question which was both something only he and Remus would know.

"It was the first time you flew a broom, and it wasn't a Dementor it was a Boggart." Apparently it was Professor Lupin then.

"Good night Professor and you say I'm leaving now?" It was a bit of an odd time, but apparently they wanted to avoid the Dursley's.

"Yes Harry we want to avoid any contact." Well that sounded logical, sorta.

"Alright lemme get my things" sighed Harry as he went to pack. He wondered why they couldn't have at least informed him he was leaving. Several minutes and introductions later Harry was packed and ready to leave.

"How are we getting there?" Obvious question, but a needed one when he found out the plan.

"We're flying now get ready." Moody was tense today.

"Why?"

"What?" The predictable response from several witches and wizards.

"Why are we flying, doesn't this 'headquarters' have floo?" Half the group's jaws dropped at that pronouncement, the other half looked at him like he was crazy.

"Harry the Dursley's don't have floo, Arthur only had it temporarily connected." Harry already knew this but based upon the fact he was sure that he was being followed almost constantly all summer, he had decided that there was someone around the neighborhood that used either used magic or hand knowledge of magic, possibly both.

"I realize that, but seeing how I know I've been followed around all summer, it stands to reason that there is someone around here with magical ties. I doubt that I suddenly became so important that I needed to be watched around the clock, without at least being important enough to be monitored at least somewhat consistently beforehand." Several heads dropped at his pronouncement, apparently he had been watched and apparently they thought that he hadn't noticed or that he had thought he was just being paranoid.

"Alright Harry we'll do it your way."

The group then made their way to Arabella Figg's house, a great surprise to Harry. After a quick note and half a hand full of floo powder, Harry Potter was spat out onto the rug of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

"Harry, you do like to make an intrance don't you." A voice Harry had not heard in a fair bit of time, and one he was most happy to hear anytime. The voice of Sirius Black. "Harry, you look aweful." Yes definitely Sirius Black.

"Thanks Sirius, I'm so glad I came." Harry grinned while saying this both because he was with his Godfather again and because he was going to get to do something he had wanted to do for a very long time.

"Ow, Harry!" Sirius had incorrectly guessed that Harry was just happy to see him from the grin on his godson's face, a hypothesis proved incorrect when Harry drew back his fist and Sirius received a hard punch to the shoulder. Ironically after hearing repeatedly from Snivellus that Harry was the reincarnation of James, Sirius decided that Harry was, without a doubt, Lily's son and Snape was an idiot. Though the latter was not new information.

"Not one word for two months, TWO MONTHS!" Oh boy, yes definitely Lily's son. Sirius had, on more than one occasion, been the recipient of Hurricane Lily and it was not a pleasant experience. Somehow he doubted that Harry's version would be a whole lot more fun. He did have a plan though and he had used it on Lily herself, when in doubt 'Blame Remus.' This plan was modified of course. ". . . AND AFTER YOU PEOPLE DESERT ME . . . "

"I wanted to, but Remus told me that I shouldn't." Sirius was feeling smug at that point. He had even gotten his plan implemented before Harry really built up his momentum.

"What does Professor Lupin have to do with you contacting me, he isn't your mother!" Sirius's heart sunk at that statement and settled himself in for a for a good long reaming courtesy of one Harry Potter. However, as luck would have it at least in Sirius case, Nymphadora Tonks decided to weigh into the discussion . . . by tripping.

". . . MUDBLOODS, FILTHY HALF-BREEDS, IN MY HOUSE!" The sounds of several Order members rushing to get the blinds closed could be heard within Harry's immediate vicinity.

"No, that would be my mother." Sirius interjected causing Harry to loose his momentum and wince at the screeching woman throwing several rather rude comments at those trying to close the curtains.

Fortunately for Sirius the ramblings of his mother's portrait had effectively killed Harry's momentum and instead he received a hug from his favorite and only Godson. After greeting and his Godfather, Harry was swept up the stairs by his favorite self-appointed mother, Molly Weasley. Apparently the Order had a meeting which Harry wasn't going to be a part of.

Mrs. Weasley had told him to move up the stairs and to the first door which would be his and Ron's rooms for the time being. Without any other choice Harry continued up and walked into the first room to be assaulted by a big brown fuzzy thing. At least that was what Harry managed to see before he was almost tackled by Hermione.

"Harry, so good to see you!" "We missed you mate." Both Hermione and Ron decided that they would be the first ones to greet Harry.

"Harry, how are you? Did the Muggles treat you alright? Did you eat enough? Are you mad at us? I bet you're mad at us! Please don't be mad at us! Dumbledore told us not to write you, he said the owls might be intercepted." Each statement was said in rapid fire as Harry struggled to keep up with Hermione's questions and statements.

"Er, um, fine, okay I guess, I'm still alive, kinda, er Dumbledore?" Harry wasn't sure whether he caught everything, but he thought he did alright considering it was the middle of the night.

"Yeah Dumbledore mate. Told us both not to write you in case the owls were intercepted" stated Ron, finally getting a chance to talk.

"Why didn't you just give it to my guards? They could have given it to me." Harry was guessing he already knew why they didn't use this particular option.

"Dumbledore said you weren't supposed to know about them, that they were supposed to be inconspicuous." Harry was right then, although he did have one addition to Hermione's reply.

"You mean invisible. I'm guessing he thought I'd be mad that I was being watched?" Special emphasis was placed on the word invisible so it left no doubt as to Harry's sarcasm.

"Yes he did Harry."

"He was right." As much as Harry would like to go off on his friends he really couldn't blame them for listening to Dumbledore in that instance, he had every intention of blaming Dumbledore though.

"Harry we heard you were in Diagon Alley alone, you weren't were you?" Harry wasn't sure exactly how Hermione had run across that information. He doubted that Dumbledore would have passed on that particular information based on his solitude anyway.

"Uh, no I wasn't." Hermione seemed triumphant at this statement and immediately turned to talk to Ron.

"See Ron, Harry knows that he can't be walking around Diagon Alley now that You-Know-Who is back." Ron looked disappointed, he must have believed that Harry would do something like that.

"Er, Hermione?" The statement brought it's subject's attention back to Harry. "I was in Diagon Alley, I just wasn't alone." The tables had turned it seemed as now Ron was looking very smug and Hermione looked annoyed.

"Hah, I told you that I knew what I heard but did you believe me? No." At this point Harry faded off as Hermione and Ron began yet another of their infamous arguments. One could not be friends or consistently within the vicinity of both without developing the ability to filter out these squabbles.

From Harry's point of view it appeared that this argument would be a rather long one so he moved to sit on the bed he figured was designated for himself, the one not sitting right beneath the Chudley Cannons' posters. Meanwhile the heated discussion had turned to hissing that Harry was sure was only two steps from Parseltongue, he wondered if they changed if he would notice.

Luckily Harry was saved from having to ignore the entire conversation by the entrance of Pranksters Elite, title patent pending, the Weasley Twins.

"Will you guys stop, . . ." **". . .you're messing with the reception" **_**"Ah, Harry we thought we heard you bellowing earlier."**_ Truthfully he thought the first was Fred. The last part was said by both.

"Hey Fred, hey George." Harry said this looking at each of the twins in turn.

"He's Fred, and I'm George." This was opposite what he had thought, but truthfully either way worked for him.

"Good, so you finally decided. Glad to hear it." Harry smirked as he said this, he had probably spent a good week at the Dursley's trying to come up with a way to put one over on the twins. What? He was bored. In retrospect seeing the twins faces made everything worthwhile, he watched as they tried to figure out exactly how he had pulled that off.

"Brother mine?" **"Yes my brother."** "I do believe we underestimated ickle Harrykins." **"I do believe you're right."** _**"Good job Harry!"**_ Apparently that had earned their respect. He figured that it would be in the best interest of his health if he carefully examined everything he had to eat from this point forward. A motto always valid when the twins were within a fifty kilometer radius.

Harry returned to his reverie to find Ginny had arrived and was explaining exactly why the strings hanging from the twin's ears weren't getting any reception. Harry didn't really want to know why the twins had strings in their ears in the first place, such things were often best left unasked. He did manage to greet Ginny before he and the rest of the kids were called down. It seemed that since everyone was up, Molly Weasley would be making breakfast. An early breakfast at half past four, but Harry was willing to bet that most everyone would be napping as soon as they were done.

* * *

The table at breakfast seemed rather subdued as most people were to tired to make a bunch of conversation. Most of the order, including Dumbledore, was still intent on leaving Harry out of anything that didn't directly concern him and ninety percent of what did. Sirius Black had other plans.

"I'm surprised Harry, I thought you would be asking question after question about Voldemort the minute you arrived." Sirius grinned as Molly Weasley rounded on him, he knew that she had no authority in this case and would have to acquiesce to at least some information if Harry asked.

"I figured since you all excluded me during the summer that either you would decide to give me something, or I'd ask someone else. Amelia Bones gave me at least part of the picture a few days ago. Said the Order was nearly driving her up the wall." Harry grinned as the members of the 'vaunted' Order of the Phoenix faces went from annoyed to mortified. It was after all not a good idea to anger the Head of the DMLE. She could make your life very difficult.

"Did she say why Harry?" Harry grinned as he remembered the relaying of every way the Order of the Phoenix was making her life difficult. He had also learned a useful spell that day.

"You guys are guarding something in the Department of Mysteries?" Not really a question but more a statement that required confirmation. At the nod from the table, Harry continued, "Did you really think that a visitor to the DoM could just walk in and walk out? Every time a visitor, or anyone without proper clearance goes down there a report has to be filed and verified."

"Director Bones needs to file a report on our actions every time one of us goes down there for guard duty?" A pink haired girl who Harry had learned early was named Tonks asked with a rather pale face, actually it looked like her hair had paled to if that was possible.

"That's right." Harry smiled at the reaction of the room's reaction and filed it away for later use. Amelia had asked him if he ever had the chance to make the Order sweat a bit about what they were doing.

After a few more questions were answered by each party before Molly decided that it was time for the children, which apparently included Sirius as well, to go get a few more hours of rest. Harry's night would be the most restful sleep he had gotten in weeks.

* * *

Harry's birthday happened very much as it had the past couple years with presents and cake at lunch. Afterward since Harry had already acquired his books for the year it was decided that the rest of the kids should be escorted to Diagon Alley to purchase the various books, ingredients, and anything else they might need for the year. Harry decided to tag along because it sounded as if he would be cleaning should he decline the invitation, and he had cleaned plenty enough for the Dursley's already that summer.

"Well let's start at Flourish and Blott's and then work our way down the Alley." Hermione's predictable suggestion was immediately followed by Ron's predictable response.

"Of course you would want to go look at books, Harry, mate let's go to Quality Quidditch Supplies." Harry was up for that even though with his Firebolt there was no real reason to. It ended up not matter as Ron and Hermione started another one of their spats only to be promptly derailed by Mrs. Weasley. Harry followed until he spied a familiar friend out front of Florean Fortesque's.

"Hey since I already have my books I'm gonna go talk to Susan and you guys can catch me when you get back." Harry called at the group which was moving rather quickly down the alley. Molly appeared to want to argue for a minute but the nodded and allowed Harry to depart the group for the time being.

Harry started off toward Susan who appeared to be in a rather animated conversation with a girl he recognized as Hannah Abbott. They noticed him as he approached and promptly greeted him and made formal introductions for the first time. At that point Hannah Abbot, who had been filled in on her friend's outing with the Boy-Who-Lived, decided it was her turn to tease The Harry Potter.

"So Harry, Susan tells me you're going to rewrite the Laws of Transfiguration." Harry's heart dropped and he knew without a doubt he should have followed the Hermione and the Weasley's to Flourish and Blott's. While his heart dropped so did his head and it found itself connecting rather solidly to the table that the three were occupying.

"I said that I thought it was possible. I didn't say that I could do it. I just think that someone might be able to someday." This was said in more of a series of groans than anything else. Harry had decided after his day with the Bones's that the essay, though truthful to Harry's opinion was going to come back to bite him, repeatedly. He wondered why he was to stubborn to change it.

"Harry, she's just teasing. If you're gonna spend any amount of time around us, you're gonna have to learn to ignore most of what comes out of Hannah's mouth." Hannah gasped in mock outrage to Susan's proclamation, and Harry made to get up figuring that he should quit while he was still a respectable margin behind. Susan caught him before he got very far, "Harry sit back down, we aren't judging you too harshly at the moment." Harry sat back down.

"Are you going to take any more potshots at me or am I safe to speak now?" Harry's attempt at humor raised a small giggle from each girl. He figured that probably wasn't as good of a sign as he might have gotten.

"Harry we won't make too much fun of you, at least not until you start defying laws of magic." Hannah put his mind a bit more at ease since he wasn't planning on defying any laws right at the moment.

The conversation continued glancing of a variety of topics including each girl's school work, and summer. Since the teasing at the beginning the three had settled into a slightly more comfortable conversation and were having a fairly good time, but as things often do that's when things started to go to pot.

"Hem, hem." The sudden interruption to the conversation caused all three heads to turn. They discovered the source of the rude sound to be an older woman who looked to be a cross between a toad and a maid hailing from the land of all things pink. After waiting to find the reason of such an interruption for some time, the three turned back fully intending to continue the previous conversation. The toad apparently had other plans.

"Hem, hem." Once again all three heads turned to look at the amphibian witch. Once again they waited, and once again they began to turn back to their conversation. "Hem, hem." At this point Harry could no longer take it, and decided to open his mouth. Later on he wouldn't be able to decide whether he regretted it or not.

"Is there something we can help you with?" This would have been a fairly courteous question were it not for Harry's tone which was solidly in the annoyed section of the spectrum.

"Tut tut Mr. Potter that was quite rude." The thing, which Harry didn't think he could even call female anymore, replied with almost girlish glee.

"Anymore rude than interrupting a conversation not including you three times while not giving any reason for said interruption?" Harry was actually well past annoyed at this point. He did not appreciate being called rude by some one who had been just as rude if not more so just moments before. If he had bothered to take a look at the girls accompanying him, he would have seen glares that promised pain and death for all those present in pink. Apparently they were acquainted with the toad woman, something that should attract sympathy for all those in the know.

"Mr. Potter, I would appreciate if you would show due respect to your superiors" the statement was made in such a way as to leave no doubt that the woman thought herself superior to all others present at the time.

"I am, I don't think those who think themselves superior are worthy of any respect. Voldemort thinks he's superior and murders people because of it. I hold no respect for him, nor for you." Harry's statement was probably not the wisest thing given the circumstances, but he made it anyway.

"You don't want me as an enemy Potter!" Amphibian lady had dropped the pretense of nicety and had gone with anger. Harry, due to the fact he had the most evil wizard of at least the last half century after him, wondered why he was supposed to be afraid of the toad in front of him. Did she really think she could intimidate him?

"I don't think I want you as a friend." At this point both Hannah and Susan were struggling to hold in their laughter as Harry engaged in a battle of wits with a being who appeared to be sorely lacking arms and ammunition. The woman was now turning a recognizable shade of puce and it made Harry wonder what would happen in a meeting between his uncle and this . . . thing.

"Now Madam . . . Whoever I suggest you leave so my friends and I can return to our conversation and enjoy what is left of this beautiful afternoon. I think you'll find that there are easier targets than me somewhere else, personally I suggest Slytherins. Bye bye now." Harry said this as if he were explaining why it was bad to drink laundry detergent to a four year old. Harry's dismissal of the 'important' woman as if she were an irritating insect was the last straw for both Susan and Hannah and they broke out into roaring laughter, as did several tables nearby.

The toad woman left in quite a hurry, still very red from the discussion. Harry feeling very smug turned back to the two ladies across from him, intending to start up a conversation wholly separate from the lady who had just made her exit; however, he was not going to be so lucky.

"Harry . . . you really . . . shouldn't have . . . done that." Susan's speech was broken several times by more laughter but she still managed to complete the thought. At that point Harry could not think of a single possible reason why he should have done what he did. So his reply was direct and to the point.

"Why not?" Harry was of course clueless to the reason why he should have held himself back. Susan spent a few seconds collecting herself before offering a reply. Hannah was beyond help at this point and had her head down on the table crying into her arm.

"Because she's the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year." If it had not been for Susan's straight face and even tone, Harry would have laughed out loud sure that he was being teased again. As it was he was mortified and took nearly half a minute to formulate a reply which both girls would remember for a long time to come.

"We're screwed."

* * *

Amelia Bones was frustrated. There were several reasons for her to be frustrated among them Cornelius Fudge and Albus Dumbledore; however, neither was the true cause of her previously stated frustration. No the reason was simple and could be completely summarized in two words, Harry Potter. Not the boy himself, despite what she had heard from various people about the almost legendary Harry Potter, she found the boy himself surpassed anything she could have imagined. He was normal. That, in itself, was an astounding concept given what he had been through.

The reason she was currently growling at the offending file on her desk, was there was no file. Upon her return to work the day following her adventures with the boy, Amelia had requested the file of Harry Potter. Since she was currently the highest ranking member of the DMLE she did have clearance, and did in fact receive the file. Neither of those was the problem, no the problem was what was contained within the file or more specifically what was not within the file. The file contained his Birth Certificate, his Ministry Registry at Hogwarts, and that was it. There was no record of Harry Potter being adopted or a ward of the Dursley's. There was also no record of Harry's Magical Guardian, which all wizard-born children including squibs had. After checking to make sure this was the correct file with the Department of Records, Amelia began to check the files of the people she thought were the most likely candidates.

The first two files she checked were Albus Dumbledore's and Sirius Black's. Dumbledore was not listed as the Magical Guardian of any current underage children. Sirius Black had been invalidated as a guardian when he was sent to Azkaban. The two most likely candidates were not but some one had to be or at least she thought so. Now Amelia Bones was beginning to doubt that Harry Potter had any guardian at all. Remus Lupin was invalidated as a werewolf, Peter Pettigrew was dead and therefore could not be guardian, the Longbottom's were in St. Mungo's, and so the list went. As far as Amelia could tell Harry Potter had fallen through the cracks in the Ministry System.

"Jane send me up all files of Hogwarts Professors from 1980 to 84 and all suspected members of the Order of the Pheonix." Amelia sighed this was going to be a long night.

"Would you like those in any particular order Director Bones?"

"The Hogwarts file in order of seniority, starting with McGonagall and Flitwick. The Order files in alphabetical order." Yes, this was going to be a long night indeed.

* * *

_In a dark room lit by flickering candlelight a lone figure stands apart before me. I speak in a hiss._

"_Are you ready to take the test?" The voice is dark and rough, it is obviously meant to intimidate._

"_Yes master. I am ready." I recognize the voice, but cannot place it._

"_Then start the trials if you would." The figure before me bows long and low._

"_Yes master." He turns and I notice a woman for the first time. She is lying on the floor curled up trying to protect herself. She is crying._

_The figure moves toward the woman and I grin in anticipation. It has been a long time since I've done this._

"_Imperio!" The figure has clearly been practicing as usually they need to scream each curse._

_The woman climbs to her feet with a black look on her face. Calls come from nearly every figure surrounding me. Suggestions for the figure. He takes a few of them. The woman is made to do all manner of degrading things. The actions get worse as they go along, each one more outrageous than the last. I'm amused by there antics, it is very seldom a new recruit has this much control over his victim. He has practiced well._

"_Enough. You have passed the first now for the second." My voice is commanding, but laced with anticipation. It has been a long time._

"_CRUCIO!" The curse is yelled, but most times it is. This curse strength is in the emotion it is cast with and the emotion felt._

_The woman screams for an eternity. Her voice becoming hoarse even as she screams, held long enough she might die of asphyxiation. Amusing yes but it will ruin the test should it happen._

"_Good. Very good. Now for the last test." At this point this is almost a mercy for she'll be rid of pain, but there is nothing worse than what is to come._

_The figure waits a bit to recuperate. Not surprising, the Cruciatus Curse takes more than a little magic to use, and to sustain it as long as he did spoke volumes of his power. I'm happy, he will make a great servant._

"_Avada Kedavra!" A flash of green light._

"NO!" Harry was drenched in sweat as he jerked awake, his scar burning. Breathing heavily he quickly surveyed his surroundings. He was back in headquarters after the days events sleeping across from Ron who it appeared had been awakened by Harry's yell.

"You alright there mate?" Ron's concerned voice drew his attention.

"I'm fine Ron, just a nightmare." Harry hoped that sounded believable enough.

"Alright." Ron dropped back to sleep almost instantly, it was a quality Harry had often envied. To sleep as if you had not one care in the world was a gift Harry had never had.

Sighing, Harry rose figuring that since he was up and wouldn't be able to sleep for at least a decent length of time he might as well eat a little something. So he made his way quietly down to the kitchen only to realize he wasn't the first one there.

"Sirius?" The man in question turned to look at the new voice.

"Harry, what are you doing up?" Sirius looked troubled both by Harry's appearance and by something else.

"I had a nightmare so I thought I'd get something to eat." Harry tried not to look Sirius in the eye at this his response, he almost felt childish for running down here after waking up.

"Me too, welcome to the night walkers a club for those who are more haunted asleep than awake." A forced chuckle accompanied Sirius's statement. Harry took a glass from Sirius and sat down opposite him at the table. Several things passed through his mind in rather quick succession, where did he recognize the voice, why was Dumbledore determined to hide everything from him, an why was Sirius really awake?

"Harry, I know you're frustrated with the people around you right now." Harry turned sharply toward his godfather wondering exactly where this conversation was going to go. "I do Harry, and believe me I understand. You were trapped at your relatives, I'm trapped here." It occurred to Harry that this was not a Sirius he had ever met before. This wasn't the Marauder who played pranks his entire time at Hogwarts, no this was the man who'd spent twelve years in Azkaban.

"They are trying to protect you Harry. Everyone is. They can neither comprehend what you have been through nor contemplate the thought of you bearing more. I can see it in their eyes when they look at you, just as I can see it in Dumbledore's eyes when he looks at me." Sirius was now staring off into space far past the wall in front of him.

"I've tried to convince them that not telling you, that hiding you away, will cause only pain, and most likely it will be your pain." Sirius has now turned back to Harry and levels him with a haunted look. His mistake all those years ago.

"What don't I know Sirius?" Harry is imploring Sirius, trying to find an answer to the riddles around him.

"I can't tell you Harry, because I don't know. I know part of it, but not all and if I told you what I know it would not help." This statement is made with a solid stare, there is no lie.

"Don't let others have the final say in your life Harry, you must judge your own actions otherwise you won't have lived at all. Be careful though, because rash action can have far reaching consequences, and consequences no one could have foreseen." This is the last statement made before Sirius retreated from the room leaving Harry to his solitude.

* * *

AN: Ah chapter two done. Again probably gonna have to be a decent length Author's Note so I'll apologize in advance. Nothing in here is absolutely vital otherwise it'd be in the story so you can go ahead and skip it if you like.

First, I'll cover the thing probably foremost on others minds. Why was Sirius so OOC at the end. My reasoning is this: He's spent twelve years reliving his worst memories and nightmares, and I believe in canon he has an almost constant facade between himself and everyone else including Harry. However, inner demons eventually catch up with everyone, and at night both Harry and Sirius fight theirs. He has also had a long time to consider his mistakes, so I figured he could probably speak fairly eloquently about them.

Last, if you can't tell yet this isn't going to be a manipulative Dumbledore the way it is normally done in fanfic. Normal Dumbles is: A) Evil B)Greedy C)Crazy D) Any combination of previous choices. I'm sorry but come on. Dumbledore has two major flaws in his character. Both flaws stem from this childhood. First he is mistrustful of the purity of youth, and second he plays his cards very close to his chest. Now does that make him manipulative? Yes it does. Does that make him an crazy, greedy, evil old man? No it does not.


	4. Chapter 3

I don't own Harry Potter or the fruit stand at the corner.

* * *

The train ride from King's Cross to Hogsmeade at least in Harry's experience always followed about same script. He would arrive at the station and pass through the barrier between platforms nine and ten and wait to board the train. Once onto the train he would search for the first empty compartment and would sit until the train began to move. This trip would be a bit different, which was saying something considering Harry had once been attacked by a Dementor on the train. The reason was currently sitting across from him reading an issue of The Quibbler upside down. The reason was Luna Lovegood.

"Luna, is your mum Selena Lovegood?" Harry decided that it would be best to check, just in case.

"She was my mum, she died doing an experiment." The words were quite different from the expression on Luna's face. She had managed to frankly talk about the death of her mother without the dreamy expression leaving her face, but Harry couldn't help it, he winced.

"Oh, sorry." After being asked about his scar and his parents so often, Harry knew that at least for him it wasn't something he necessarily liked to be reminded of.

"Don't be. I loved her and I know she loved me. We'll meet again, in this world or the next." If Harry had seen her mouth move, he would have sworn that came from Dumbledore or someone of such standard, but it was Luna and now Harry was a bit confused. He was convinced that Luna was younger than him, probably only a year, but still younger. Yet he had just heard her talk about death with no feeling in her words at all, it was a bit unnerving. He wondered exactly who Luna was. "Is there something you wanted to know about her, Harry?" Luna's continuation and inquisitive look brought him back from wonderland.

"Er . . . I was just going to ask you about her book." Harry pulled the book Madam Bones had suggested out of his bag on the floor as he said this and passed it to Luna.

"Yes, I remember this one. She was always experimenting with Magic, that's actually how she died. A spell backfired on her." Harry now felt even worse. He also was rather confused, how many people would talk rather intimately to someone they met less than an hour ago about the death of a parent. "Is there something specific you wanted to ask about? Harry?" Once again Harry and faded from the real world and into his own mind.

"I just found several parts of her theory on building blocks interesting." That was the truth, though not all of it. Amelia Bones was right Selena Lovegood had a theory that was very similar to his own. It didn't have to do with particles but she described a theory of manipulating objects to small to see that made up other objects. He guessed that the theory was actually focused on cells rather than atoms because nearly the entire book was dedicated to changing plants and animals.

"Thank you." That was the end of the conversation apparently as Luna passed the book back and went back to reading her issue of The Quibbler. Harry was sure she wasn't offended, but something was very odd about the whole encounter.

* * *

One of the things that Harry had noticed during his schooling was that Draco Malfoy tended to want to take a few shots at him at the beginning and end of every year. However they were nearing half way to Hogwarts and no sign of Draco. He was beginning to consider the thought that Malfoy might just decide not to show up this time, but then the door to the compartment began to open and he decided that Fate wanted a laugh today. Harry groaned to himself.

"Hey Potter, fancy meeting you here." The upturned smirk of Draco Malfoy shown in the doorway. It goes without saying that both Crabbe and Goyle were in attendance. Though it appeared that Crabbe was more concerned with something apparently on his face, he was repeatedly making a motion of wiping his brow.

"You won't get them off you know" stated Luna. Harry wasn't sure what she could be talking about since he couldn't see anything on Crabbe's face. He did the only thing he could do, he ignored Malfoy for the time being and questioned Luna on exactly what she was talking about.

"Get what off Luna?" Harry was general curious.

"The Wrackspurts Harry. It is curious though, usually they just go in a persons ears. I've never heard of them latching onto the face before." Harry had no idea what Wrackspurts were, but after looking at Draco's face it didn't really matter. It was a face that contained nothing but pure unrelenting horror and disgust. After processing Luna's statements Malfoy turned back to Harry intent on restarting his usual act. Harry beat him to it.

"Greetings Draco and Luna's right you should really help your friend rid himself of the Wrackspurts. It is rather rude to leave him to deal with them by himself." Draco Malfoy as a dignified Pureblood, and trained from birth, knew how to deal with many things. Anger, disdain, snobbery, nicety, indifference, and many others were all things he had been trained to deal with. Insanity was not. He did know how to do one thing though, and that was insult Harry Potter, or at least he thought he did.

"Potter you think you're so smart. Think you're so important do you." This was a road he and Draco had been down more than one time. He had seen where it led and since he usually, every time so far, ended up getting the best of Malfoy he really didn't have a problem visiting there again. He did have another thought though, and this was the time to implement it.

"No Draco I don't, but apparently you do." He knew what the reply to this was going to be, it was as predictable as Snape's comment about his father on the first day of every school year.

"Oy, I don't think you're important Potter." Malfoy probably would have continued past this point had Harry not derailed his momentum.

"Then why do you seek me out every time we're on this train?" There was of course the fact that Harry didn't ride the train second year, and was not approached on the way third year either. Though Harry would place money on the fact that the only reason he didn't see Malfoy third year had to do with the Dementor.

"I don't seek you out because you're important!" Well Harry probably could have predicted that reply as well.

"Well since I'm not important, it was nice talking to you and I'll see you at school. Bye bye now." Choosing to end with the same words he used to dismiss Umbridge, Harry bid Draco good by and quickly slammed the compartment door shut in the blond's face.

That as it turned out would be the last Harry Potter saw of Malfoy until the sorting feast, as Draco and his stooges caught the first carriage in an effort to put some distance between themselves and the newly insane Harry Potter.

* * *

The sorting feast was a very odd occurrence as that little toad woman decided that she had the right to interrupt Dumbledore. If he were truly honest with himself, Harry thought that part was rather funny. However, Harry was not truly honest with himself when it came to Dolores Umbridge. Since his encounter during the summer, he had developed a healthy disrespect for her based on information he was able to glean from Susan and members of the Order, specifically Remus. He also reinforced his belief that the entire generation was screwed when it came to defending themselves.

* * *

The first day was another normal day in the life of Harry Potter. He slept in History of Magic, got insulted by Snape in Potions, and Trelawny predicted his horrible gruesome death in Divination. He decided it was just another year at Hogwarts. It really got interesting when he came to Defense against the Dark Arts. The class was instructed to put their wands down and then instructed to say 'Good Afternoon Professor Umbridge.' Harry of course did not participate.

"I did not hear you greet me Mr. Potter." Umbridge spoke with a rather hideous smile much to big for her face. Voldemort probably would have been turned on . . . ugh. Harry had to literally beat his head on the desk to remove that image from it.

"Mr. Potter?" Still smiling and waiting for an answer.

"I was thinking I might be in the wrong classroom. I thought I came to Defense, but apparently I walked into a first grade class." Yes, this would be interesting indeed.

"Do you believe you know how I should teach this class Mr. Potter?" Harry couldn't help it, the reply came to easily.

"I think you should teach defense." Harry was apparently in good form today.

"I will be teaching defense Mr. Potter as soon as we move on. You will serve detention with me tomorrow at 5." Detention, and at with the way this year was shaping up, he might have a chance to break the single year Hogwarts' record.

Defense was mostly uninterrupted for the rest of the day. Minus the short period where Harry told everyone that Voldemort was back and earned detention on Wednesday as well. Records would be broken at Hogwarts, Harry knew it. Tuesday passed without major incident, McGonagall did tell Harry that it would be in his best interest to lie low in DADA, but Harry wasn't receptive to that idea. Umbridge's detention Tuesday night wasn't a real big deal. He had to clean a lot of decorative plates for some reason, he wasn't sure why.

* * *

Minerva McGonagall was a veteran. She had taught students through one war, four Marauders, three Prewitts, two Weasley twins, and one Harry Potter. It was safe to say very few things shook the stately witch. There were on occasion moments where actions of members of another or even her own house did threaten to break her calm, but overall it was very unusual to see her as anything but collected. If one were to see her right now this would be one of those times.

She was reading Harry Potter's essay again. It was nothing special as an essay, worthy of an Exceeds Expectations but nothing more. It did show more interest in the subject than Harry had ever shown previously in her class. It wasn't even the fact that he had theorized that it was possible to bypass Gamp's fifth exception. After all a student tried this theory every couple of years in hopes to sound 'original.' No it was the evidence Harry provided that astounded her. The evidence was very similar to another essay turned in by a brilliant muggleborn witch a decade ago. They had given much the same evidence and reached the same conclusion. What astounded her most was that the muggleborn witch still resided within the confines of Hogwarts, as a professor.

After reading the essay she immediately relayed it to the professor in question who was intrigued much more by the author than by the subject. After talking to Septima for a short time she decided to meet with Harry and had asked him to report to her office after his detention that night. He should be finishing up and reporting within the next few minutes. In the meantime she had decided to reread both his and Septima's essays. A few minutes later a knock on the door announced Harry's arrival.

"Mr. Potter come in." Even if she referred to him as Harry in her head propriety must be maintained.

"Professor McGonagall you asked to see me?" Harry was nervous that much was obvious. He had correctly guessed the reason for this meeting.

"Relax Mr. Potter, this is not a disciplinary meeting. I just need to speak a bit with you." Now Harry was both nervous and curious, if he wasn't in trouble why did they need to meet.

"I need to ask you a question or two and you need to answer them truthfully Harry." She used his first name now because he kept getting even more tense even after she told him to relax.

"Yes Professor." She hoped that he understood.

"I've read your essay." Harry immediately tensed again. "Do relax Harry, this is not the first time I've seen this conclusion." Harry tried but relaxing in front of Minerva McGonagall was a bit like sleeping in Snape's class, it just wasn't done. "I need to know if you truly believe your answer or if you were just trying to be original."

"I believe it Professor." Harry answered without hesitation, and as Minerva McGonagall was quite accustomed to picking out truth from lies, they thought they had gotten her back in first year, she believed him.

"Very well Harry. As it so happens, this is not the first time I have seen this evidence presented with the same conclusion." That did surprise Harry, the book hadn't listed any attempts to transfigure gold in the last fifty years.

"You have?" She almost chuckled at that response because Harry's jaw was well on it's way to hitting the floor.

"Yes actually, it was presented ten years ago by a rather brilliant muggleborn witch." That made some sense, a muggleborn would have at least heard of atoms before and if they could remember some facts and perhaps do a little research in a muggle library, they could come up with the same conclusion. McGonagall continued while Harry was thinking, "I have informed her of your essay and she was quite interested to say the least. She also hoped that you might help her in a little research."

"She did?" Harry couldn't believe this particular because he had never gotten any real academic attention and now someone wanted him to help them do experimental research.

"Yes she did. Would you be interested?" Now Harry Potter was not a person who was academically inclined in most instances, but one does not turn down an offer like this out of hand.

"I think I would be." That was at least part of the answer McGonagall was looking for, though she had hoped for a little more enthusiasm.

"Good." At that she wrote a quick note and handed to Harry. "Report to Professor Vector in the Arithmancy classroom. I assume you can find it. Give this note to anyone who stops you." At Harry's nod, he was swept out the room.

Harry was feeling a bit upturned at this point. In the last few minutes he had found out that his essay did not get him in trouble and he was actually going to do research, and research with a professor at Hogwarts, a professor for a class he didn't take. Sighing he continued on his way toward the Arithmancy classroom. It was going to be a late night for Harry it seemed.

It seemed that luck was not on Harry's side as he spied Snape coming down the hallway in his direction.

"Potter! Five points from Gryffindor for being out after dark." Typical Snape. Harry did hand his note from McGonagall to the Potions Professor, and the Professor did at least read it instead of ignoring it. "Yes well, it seems you have permission to be out this time. I guess there's a first time for anything. Your father may have had permission once or twice too, but I doubt it." With that shot Severus Snape handed back the note to Harry and continued down the hall. Apparently he forgot the five points he took off.

"When Dudley flies." mumbled Harry under his breath.

Harry did not have any other unfortunate meetings on his way down to the Arithmancy room. However, when he walked into the room he did not see anyone around. Quickly scanning the room Harry confirmed that he was in fact the only one there, and sat down to wait.

"Ah Harry, I didn't hear you come in." Professor Vector was emerging from behind a portrait which must have hidden her office. "Well Harry come on." Beckoning him to follow she turned around and returned to her office.

"I guess we haven't ever been formally introduced so Harry, I'm Septima Vector." She was very different from any other Professor he had talked to. Septima Vector was young, very young. Harry guessed she couldn't be more than 25.

"Hi Professor, Harry Potter."

"Oh Harry lose the Professor, you aren't my student and if we're gonna do a bit of research together, you might as well call me Septima. Dreadful name but it is mine." She chuckled as she said this and Harry relaxed a bit. Actually he found it wasn't terribly hard to relax around Vector, she had a very different feel than Snape or McGonagall.

"So Harry you think that it's possible to transfigure something to or from gold?" Seeing his nod she continued, "That's good because I happen to believe the same thing, and I also believe that given enough time we might be able to do it."

"Er, Professor? I do have a question to ask you." Harry had one thought on the way down from McGonagall's office and needed to ask it.

"Septima Harry, Septima. What's your question?" replied Vector in an easy tone.

"Why me?"

"Harry there are several reasons why you make a good candidate, but the main one is you believe that it can be done." Harry could somewhat understand this, but at the same time he knew he was not the sharpest knife in the drawer so to speak.

"I understand that I believe, but wouldn't Hermione or someone be much better?" Harry was very surprised when Professor Vector actually laughed at that.

"Someone smarter than you, you mean" said a smirking Vector. When she saw his nod she continued, "There are more important things than smarts, especially in this case Harry." Now he was confused.

"Harry if you don't believe that something can be done, you will be unable to do it. That is why your friend Hermione would not be a good choice. Though a very brilliant witch she sets to much store by the books she reads. In two years she has not missed a single problem on her Arithmancy homework, but at the same time she has also not done a single problem different from the way the book suggests it be done. Harry, sometimes the book way isn't the best way. There is also the fact that she and probably everyone else in your class lacks the pure magical power to do what we are going to do. We'll get into that tomorrow though." Harry was rather surprised at the explanation from Vector, he had never considered himself to be a particularly powerful wizard.

"You need my magical power?" Vector looked a bit sheepish at Harry's proclamation.

"I must admit Harry, I am not the most powerful of witches. I can do all the normal NEWT level spells, but my practical magic has never been to terribly outstanding. My strength was always theory. So yes, I need your power." She blushed a bit as she talked. Harry could only nod in response, after all how did you respond to a Professor who said you were more powerful than they were.

"We'll talk more tomorrow. In any event I want you to take this." Septima had pulled something out of her desk and tossed it to Harry, and with his practiced Seeker skills, he snatched it out of the air. It was a small cylindrical glass with a gold needle in the center. "Study it, learn it. Know it like the back of your hand." Harry nodded and put the prism into his pocket.

"Alright Harry, I think we should meet in the mornings given your . . . tendency to get detention. Is that alright?" Harry was surprised that she knew that he got that many detentions, but he supposed that teachers talked together.

"I can do that, what time and days?"

"You have first class at 9:30?" After seeing him nod she continued, "Then I should think 8:00 will work well enough. Everyday apart from weekends of course." This surprised Harry but then again they were going to be attempting to do something no wizard had ever done before, so maybe everyday was logical.

"Alright Harry, go get some sleep and be back here at eight o'clock." Knowing a dismissal when he heard one he turned to leave.

"Good night Professor." He was ten feet down the hall when he heard Vector's reply.

"Septima Harry, Septima." The response was almost sung.

That was how Harry Potter was enlisted by Minerva McGonagall and Septima Vector to rewrite the rules of Transfiguration as they were known to the general wizarding population. Harry wasn't sure if they would be able to do it, but he at least felt better that someone else believed it was possible. With that thought Harry made his way back up to Gryffindor Tower. After uttering the password to the Fat Lady, who was none to pleased to be woken up at such a time, he made his way up the stairs and to his bed. He set the prism on the table beside his bed, and fell asleep exhausted from the day.

* * *

Across the castle in the Arithmancy Professor's quarters Septima Vector was reading Harry Potter's Summer Transfiguration Essay and grinning. Perhaps this was the break she'd been waiting for. Other than Headmaster Dumbledore and You-Know-Who, it was quite possible Harry Potter was the only person in England with enough pure Magical Power to pull off what they were going to attempt. He didn't know that of course, but there were times where standing around Harry was much like standing around Dumbledore. She had yet to experience it up close, but knew that if they were going to succeed, he was going to need every bit of that power.

* * *

More than a fair bit of distance away from Hogwarts, during the same few days that Harry was settling back into school, Amelia Bones was getting back to here early days of law enforcement. While Amelia was happy to have risen through the ranks and earned the highest law enforcement position in the land, there were days when she wished she was still an Auror. Flying a desk even in the magical community was tedious work. She was at this moment investigating. Investigating the case of Harry Potter to be precise. After learning from Susan that Harry had been moved from the Dursley's, she had only worked on and off on the case.

Several other things had gotten in the way as well. One day it had been 200 pink sheep, then the next it was a cursed phone booth. It had not been a good month for the Head of the DMLE. Compiled on top of that it seemed that no Professor of Hogwarts, past or present, and no suspected members of the Order of the Phoenix were Harry's designated guardian. There had been no paper trail at all. It seemed that Harry Potter had no wizard guardian so far as she could tell.

The investigation was not progressing as she had hoped. Currently there several things she was attempting to do. The first item was tracking down the social worker who would have been in charge of finding and designating Harry's guardian according to the Potter will. The second was managing to arrange a meeting with Dumbledore, who seemed to be doing everything in his power to dodge her.

Currently she was meeting with one of her muggle law enforcement contacts in order to try and get Harry's muggle paperwork. She had contacted an old friend named Michael Stevens. He was a police officer who had produced a magical daughter. They had met several times when cases crossed over between muggle and magical. Usually when a muggle crime was committed against a magical citizen. This did not happen any more often than the reverse it was just Ministry policy that any magical crime be taken care of by the magical government no matter the victim.

"Amelia, it's been a long time." The deep baritone of Stevens brought Madam Bones back to the present. Getting up, she greeted him with a quick hug.

"Far too long, how've you been Mike?" Amelia Bones maybe a pureblooded witch but she had interacted with muggles often enough to be familiar with customs, and pleasantries. She had also known Michael for nearly thirty years.

"Knee hurts and the back won't bend, or is it the other way around?" An old joke referring to a time when there had been rather tense times between the DMLE and the muggle police force. Either way they barely had a leg to stand on.

"Both." The reply came from both friends simultaneously.

"What can I do for you Amelia?" Such meetings were rarely just to keep up especially in the law enforcement business.

"I need you to find me all the information you can on Harry James Potter, 15 years old, born July 31, 1980."

"Kid in trouble?" Information on a minor was an odd request and as such Mike was curious as to the reason.

"No, nothing like that just his file it makes no sense at all." The frustration was clearly evident in her tone. "His magical file contained two things. His birth certificate and his Hogwarts acceptance papers. That's it. We're talking about a magical orphan. His file should be more than ten to twenty times that size."

"That is strange. Any possible reason for the strange file size?"

"I'm sure that part of it is for security, he is a rather important figure. Even so he doesn't have a magical guardian that I can find, and I've checked more than a hundred possibilities. There is no record of adoption either, I'd say he was an emancipated minor if that wasn't absent as well." I'm hoping that your side of the government might have a bit more leads.

"I'll get you everything I can find."

"Thanks Mike."

So the Head of the DMLE attempted another strategy at following the paper trail to Harry Potter.

* * *

AN: This is the last introduction chapter at least for awhile. A shorter chapter as well, but that is partly because I removed Harry's first day of research to use in the next one. I figured after nothing happening for 3000 words people might be a bit frustrated if I started in on complex magical quantum theory with nothing to break it up. Believe it or not there will be action in this story at some point, but it is listed as sf/drama for a reason and most of the story will be told through dialogue.

Alright I've introduced all major characters for at least a good portion of the story. Hope you've been able to read uptil now and I haven't made it to terribly boring. I'm sure you're all disappointed with the appearance of the title object, but it's my story.

I just read the entire story uptil now and realized that there is almost no Ron or Hermione, but I also realized why I did so. Most everything so far in the story is the same as canon, so I left those parts out. After all Rowling, wrote it better than me.


	5. Chapter 4

Don't own Harry Potter but I do own a deck of cards.

* * *

Harry Potter was tired. He was a Gryffindor, Gryffindor's didn't get up at seven thirty in the morning. Unfortunately he didn't have a choice, this is what he had signed up for. It also didn't help that he had walked down to Vector's classroom to find an entirely too awake Arithmancy teacher. She was a morning person, this was not going to be the most fun Harry had ever had.

"Come on Harry we're going to be attempting magic never done before, isn't it exciting?" Septima was bubbly. It was very weird to see a School Teacher bouncing around like a kid on Christmas.

Harry yawned.

"Perk up Harry, today we're going to go over a few things you need to know and possibly plan a bit on how exactly we'll pull this off. How far we get will depend on exactly how much you already know." She was entirely too happy for eight in the morning. It was not normal, one should trudge around for at least an hour at the beginning of each morning. Perkiness was evil, Harry was sure of it.

"Harry before I forget do you have your needle?" Harry did and took it out to give it back to the Professor.

"Good, put it back in your pocket." That was not what he had expected but shrugging he did so.

"Alright Harry, in order to do this research you're going to need to know a little bit about quite a few subjects. There'll be Arithmancy, Quantum Mechanics, Chemistry, Magical Theory of course, and several other subjects that will be useful as well." Now Harry was frightened, in fact he was quite sure he'd rather have an encounter with Voldemort right now.

"Don't look so scared, Harry as it happens we a fully qualified Professor for all those subjects in this room." Harry couldn't help it he looked around. Vector sighed, "I meant me Harry."

"Oh, sorry." Harry was a bit sheepish now.

"Don't worry about it. As it happens I'm also quite well versed in the Arithmantic properties of Gold as well, after all it was what I did my Masters on. Where would you like to start?" Vector was actually curious about Harry's answer because it would tell her a bit more about how to work successfully with him.

"The beginning?" Harry truly had no idea what she was talking about right now so he hoped she wouldn't take his answer the wrong way.

"That would be a good place wouldn't it." It seemed that nothing could throw Septima Vector when she got rolling.

"Very well we'll shall start at the beginning which is of course in our case basic Magical Theory. So Harry what is Magic?" Septima Vector waited. And waited.

"Energy?" Harry finally gave an answer and while not the best answer it was a better answer than many would give.

"Yes it is Harry. It is a kind of energy but it is also more. Think of magic as a connection of all things that exist in this world. An energy that connects all the things, it is even more than that for this energy takes on a life of its own. The Muggles refer to this as the Gaia Hypothesis. Magic is still more than that though for it not only connects things it allows you to change the world around you. Think of Magic as almost the force from Star Wars." Harry was speechless, a professor at a school for magic had just used a muggle movie as a metaphor for magic. He doubted the purebloods would be amused.

"Now Harry what is the smallest thing you have ever transfigured?" This question surpised him but he easily knew the answer.

"Needles, matches, and buttons."

"Were they big buttons or small buttons?" Now that he thought about it they were fairly large.

"Pretty big compared to the buttons on muggle clothing." He wasn't sure where the professor was going with this line of questioning.

"Do you have an idea of why the buttons might be large, wouldn't it take less power to transfigure a small button than a large one?" Another question, still Harry didn't see where this was going.

"I guess, it probably would."

"Then why don't the start with something smaller when you are first learning to do magic, and any magic depletes your reserve quickly?" Another question and one Harry didn't have a good answer for.

"I don't know."

"No you don't know Harry, but you will. There are in fact two reasons. The first is that when you are first learning you can't feel your magic and you need to learn to do so before moving on to other things. The second reason is more complicated. Magic is a very big thing Harry, and trying to change something at a very small scale like a tiny button or say a molecule or an atom is like trying to do surgery with a machete. If the person had enough control the feat might be possible, but the tool is not designed to do such a thing. This is one of our first problems Harry, very few Wizards have enough control over the magic they wield to transfigure a very small button without some side effect. And no witch or wizard in history has ever had the control that will be required to do what we propose. This is a big problem but one we will inevitably face." Harry finally got the picture of where Septima was going through that whole line of questioning.

"I see you finally figured out why I was asking those questions. Probably thought I was a bit barmy there for awhile." Harry blushed. He didn't think she had noticed.

"We'll continue. Alright another question why a matchstick to a needle? Why not something else?" Again Harry was stumped. Why did they choose those two items? They were near the same weight and size but it was wood to metal on the first day. Why would you do such a thing?

"They are the same basic shape, and about same size, but I don't know after that." Vector looked pleased with Harry's answer.

"Very good. Those are two good reasons. The main reason however is tradition, and the way this tradition affects magic. Remember I said that magic connected all things, that includes ideas. Now tell me what would happen to the magical connection between a matchstick and a needle if every school wizard around the world attempted to change a matchstick to a needle on the first day of transfiguration?" Again Harry wasn't sure so he went with the only answer that made much sense.

"It would get stronger?" Septima Vector was happy, actually she was more than happy. Harry Potter was picking up the concepts at a fantastic rate.

"Exactly Harry, magic is a living and changing entity. The connection between a matchstick and a needle is so close and so strong that one does not need to know magic to make the connection. Tell me the first time you were able do a spell, did you know how to cast?" She was grinning.

"No, they told us what to do and the effect it should have, but I was just saying the words."

"Exactly Harry, but magic felt what you were trying to do and reacted it in the proper way. You didn't know what you were doing but magic did. Now that you are more experienced and have more control over your magic it lets you lead a bit more, but when you just started out you were very much just along for the ride." Harry was beginning to wish he had taken Arithmancy because he had learned more about Magic itself in the last ten minutes than he had for 4 years of school.

"So magic knows what we're going to do and it will help us?" Septima Vector winced a bit on that question.

"Unfortunately no Harry. While many connections get stronger everyday, no one has ever transfigured to or from gold, nor been able to manipulate atoms. So we will be walking a completely new path when we try either. The connections will be very weak and we will have much trouble traveling any of them." Harry was now a bit worried.

"But there are connections to gold, so we won't be creating a new one just strengthening a very weak one."

"There are many connections to gold, in fact it is one of the most magically fascinating elements, and I do believe that we will not need to forge our own connection. Tell me Harry what do you know of Gold?" The question sounded generally curious.

"Er just that its an element and that it has 79 protons I believe. Other than that it is only general things like it's used for galleons."

"You are right it has seventy-nine protons and that is arithmantically important because it is a prime number, it also has 118 neutrons. One hundred and eighteen is two times fifty-nine, both prime numbers, one the base prime. The number of neutrons added to the number of protons brings the total number of particles in the nucleus to 197 which is also a prime number. Three numbers two of which are prime and the third can only be divided once by the base prime. The fun doesn't stop there either. We will be studying what is probably the most important arithmantic element on Earth." With that Septima Vector made here way to the blackboard and drew a cube with an x on each face.

"The crystal structure of gold is what is called cubic face centered Harry. It is a perfect cube with an intersection on each face as well. How many intersections are there in that structure?" Harry usually wouldn't have known but with the diagram right in front of him he managed it.

"Fourteen."

"Exactly Harry. Fourteen. Two times Seven. The base prime by the prime lucky. Now how about the number of edges in such a structure?" Harry tried counting but he kept losing track.

"I don't know." Vector didn't seem surprised.

"Yes it is hard to count in two dimensions, but not to worry because I in fact do know. There are thirty-six edges in a cubic face centered structure. Thirty-six, which is four times nine or more importantly two squared by three squared. Two pairs of the first two primes. Are you beginning to see why Gold is magically important Harry?" Truthfully most of the Arithmancy was over Harry's head, but he did recognize a few too many coincidences when he saw them.

"I can see why it might be important, even though I don't totally understand." At his answer Vector placed a small cube of gold on the table in front of Harry.

"This," gesturing to the cube, "is the magical singularity Harry. The point at which everything connects and nothing connects. The current magical knowledge of Gold exists almost entirely on paper, there is almost no practical knowledge that has ever been applied to it. With magic we can change shape and phase, that is the extent of our power over Gold at the present time. If we can manage to transfigure even half a needles weight to or from Gold for even a couple seconds, it will be without a doubt the greatest magical discovery of the modern age." Harry was astounded. He also thought this might be an insurmountable task now, everything seemed to be working against them.

"I don't see how we're going to accomplish this, it seems as if everything is working against us." Harry didn't want to believe it was impossible, actually he still believed it was, it was more how were a young professor and a student going to rewrite the laws of magic.

"That is where your power is going to come in Harry." Harry was really confused now.

"My power, but we weren't talking about power."

"Yes we were you just don't realize it yet. Tell me, are the great magical discoveries mainly attributed to Wizards of great mind or of great power." He had to think a little bit to come up with an answer. Merlin was always portrayed as being very wise, but they always portrayed him as very powerful. Of the four founders only Ravenclaw was portrayed as being of great intelligence. Dumbledore was undeniably intelligent but he was also incredibly powerful as well. The only other great wizard he knew too much about was Nicolas Flamel, and he wasn't sure about his power or intelligence.

"Power I guess."

"And you guess right. Think about what we discussed about connections and their strength. Why would having great power assist with magical discovery?" Septima seemed giddy at this point.

"With power you can push magic over the connection, and the greater the power the weaker the connection can be?"

"Exactly. I'm impressed Harry you've picked up a great deal about magic in a very short amount of time. Yes with your power and enough research that we can isolate a connection and hopefully pass enough magic over it that we will accomplish our task. Do you think your ready to change the way wizards think Harry?" Quite frankly no, Harry wasn't ready to do that. Though if he were to pull this off it would be a nice change as he would be famous for something he actually did. He was excited, and more interested in the academics of magic than ever before.

"So you think that together we'll accomplish it?" Harry was questioning at this point. Vector didn't answer immediately, and instead she went back to the blackboard and drew one side of the face centered structure. She drew it angled as a diamond with the X in the middle going up and down as well as horizontally. Then she erased the bottom two sides of the diamond leaving an arrow pointed straight up.

"I know you don't take Ancient Runes Harry, this is a modified version of Tiwaz from Elder Futhark. Six of these in the proper arrangement will form the crystal structure of gold. This Rune is the symbol the Norse God Tyr. The God of single combat and heroic glory. Harry, from the moment I read your essay I thought about this symbol. I don't think we can do it Harry, I think you were born to do it."

* * *

It was a different Harry who arrived at Charms a few minutes later. Vector had realized she kept him a bit too long and ushered him out with a quick "We'll talk more tomorrow." She really hadn't given him enough time to recover from her statement, nor had he recovered walking down the corridors of Hogwarts on his way to Charms. He made it to Charms just before class started and found his seat between Ron and Hermione. He didn't speak a word as he sat down.

"Harry where have you been all morning?" whispered an obviously put off Hermione.

"Yeah mate, where did you go? You missed breakfast." Ron was also curious. Harry actually hadn't missed breakfast he just grabbed some from the kitchens before making his way to Vector's classroom.

"I was with Professor Vector in the Arithmancy classroom," Harry replied absently.

"Why would you be there? You don't take Arithmancy." Hermione seemed genuinely curious.

"Why did you get up so early to talk to a teacher?" Typical Ron.

"We were talking about our research." Obviously Harry still wasn't completely back in his own mind.

"What research? You didn't tell me you were doing any research." Hermione was put off by his answer. After all Harry didn't take Arithmancy why would he be doing research with that Professor.

"It only happened last night after my detention. I had a meeting with McGonagall to discuss my summer transfiguration essay and then she sent me down to Vector to discuss doing some research together."

"Your summer transfiguration essay, what could possibly been in that, that would cause you to do research with the Arithmancy Professor?" In a way Hermione had a point, the way he'd said it really didn't make a whole lot of sense. Harry figured that it was probably best just tell Hermione everything instead of put it off. She wouldn't stop asking until he told her anyway.

"My conclusion was that based on the fact that everything is made of atoms and that different kinds of atoms are only different because of their number of particles that it should theoretically possible to transfigure something to or from gold." Harry managed to say this in one breath and waited for Hermione's reaction.

"Harry that can't be, Gamp's Fifth Exception of Elementary Transfiguration states that . . ." Harry faded off a bit at this point because he had heard it all before an needed no real reason to hear it again, luckily he did fade back in before Hermione finished. ". . . and everyone who has ever tried has failed. Why do you think it could be done? Who would think that it could be done?"

"Professor Vector." That stopped Hermione in her tracks. Hermione's favorite teacher was without a doubt Minerva McGonagall, but she had unending faith in Professor Vector because she dealt with numbers. Numbers were stationary, they were static, they were perfect. Numbers made sense. How could the Professor of such a subject believe such an outrageous theory. It was in direct violation of one of the most basic rules of magic itself. That couldn't be possible, could it?

"Look Hermione, Vector believes it's possible and so do I. So we're gonna do some research and try to find out." Harry while still a bit shaky on some of the things Septima had told him earlier, was more sure that it could be done now than he was when he wrote the essay.

"Harry it's never been done before." Hermione's voice was getting higher and higher as the conversation wore on.

"There was a time when you could say that about everything that's ever been accomplished. In order to be possible it only has to have been done once." Hermione harumphed and turned back to pay attention to Flitwick for the rest of the period.

"I think she's mad mate." Ron had remained silent for the vast majority of the conversation, and then only stated the obvious.

"Thanks Ron."

"Personally I think you're barmy mate. Dunno about all that transfiguration stuff but doing school work that isn't even for a class. Barmy." Harry couldn't help it he laughed. That was one of the reasons he liked having Ron as a best mate. He was straight forward and consistent.

The rest of Charms class was uneventful, and then they moved onto Potions where they would be doing the Strengthening Solution. It actually wasn't to difficult, and Harry only lost ten points for Gryffindor which was a decent day for him. Then he moved onto Defense, and that's where the day went into the chamber pot. It could be said that Harry getting detention again wasn't his fault, those people would be lying. Either way Harry would report to Umbridge's office again the next night.

* * *

The day did get a bit better after Defense when Harry heard the voice of a person he hadn't talked to in awhile.

"Harry you do know how to make a scene don't you." The light tones from Susan Bones grabbed Harry's attention.

"Well I couldn't just stay quiet, she's insane. And it will get people killed." Harry knew this because even though Voldemort was laying low right now, he wouldn't forever. Eventually he'd make himself known, and if people didn't know how to defend themselves it wouldn't be pretty.

"I suppose you're right, but I don't think you'll get her to realize that. The way the Ministry is acting and the way you made her look like a fool in Diagon Alley, I don't think you'll make any progress with her." Honestly Harry didn't think he would either, but that wasn't really why he was acting out in that class anyway.

"I doubt it too, but maybe someone else will realize it." The honest answer, and he hoped several of the students did.

"We do Harry, a lot of us do. What can we do though, we can't really practice in the library, and I bet Umbridge would put a stop if we tried to out on the grounds."

"I know Susan, but something needs to be done." After that they lapsed into a comfortable silence until Hannah Abbott who had been silent through the first part of the conversation spoke up.

"Why were you so late to Charms Harry, and not at breakfast at all?" It was an odd occurrence that on Thursday's the Gryffindors had two classes, Charms and DADA, with the Hufflepuffs. The Slytherins were the usual partners for the House of Godric. Potions was still with them much to Harry's chagrin.

"Professor Vector asked me to help her with some research, and we're meeting in the mornings." He wondered what the reactions of the Hufflepuffs would be. He wasn't disappointed, they both started laughing.

"Still trying to rewrite the rules of magic are you Harry?" That was Hannah of course taking the usual potshot at Harry. He took Susan's advice and mostly ignored her.

"Only one of them." Now Susan's and Hannah's jaws dropped. The comment was supposed to be a joke they hadn't really expected there to be follow up apparently.

"Really, your essay?" Susan again.

"Yeah, turns out Vector did basically the same essay ten years ago." That was of course news to both girls.

"That's really interesting Harry, good luck." Hannah.

"How did Hermione take it when you told her?" That was Susan, apparently she suspected something would happen, or she saw all or at least part of the discussion during charms. Harry winced in thought.

"Not well."

"She'll come around eventually Harry. You two have never had problems because neither of you has ever crossed into the others territory before. You've never really been academically rewarded, and she's never been the defense leader, despite the years her grades beat yours in the course. Give her some time and she'll come around." That was true and rather insightful considering how little he had talked to Susan before this year. Actually he still hadn't really spent a lot of time with Susan and since they were always together Hannah either.

"You're probably right Susan, but I wish she would have taken it a bit better. I could have done without the lecture on things I already knew." It really didn't matter that he didn't really listen, at least in his opinion, it was the principle that mattered.

"Ah Harry cheer up after all you've got detention tonight, and tomorrow night."

"Thanks Hannah that makes me feel so much better." Records were definitely going to be broken at Hogwarts this year.

The three then made their way down to the Great Hall for dinner. Afterward Harry would have much more fun in another Umbridge detention.

* * *

Elsewhere a long time detective was wondering if a long time friend was pulling one over on him. Michael Stevens, Mike to his friends, was searching for the muggle paperwork to a Harry James Potter. Amelia had said this was someone important in her world, but as far as he could tell the kid didn't exist. It was like searching for a ghost. The kid had a birth certificate, which to the trained eye was obviously fake, but nothing else. He had found records of the mother and tracked down the her sister's family. They were without a doubt the most abrasive people he had ever met, criminals included. They had also denied the boy had ever spent time at their house, even though the recognition in Mrs. Dursley's eye said volumes to the contrary.

He had proceeded to ask the school for records as well, but they had no listing of him as a student either. He thought it was possible that he went to another school, but it seemed unlikely. Amelia had not seemed like she was joking, and if this was the kind of results she was getting as well he deemed that made up for her frustration level the other day. He did want to make sure that Amelia wasn't playing a practical joke on him, which she had done once before. Sent him off searching for records of a Peter Pettigrew, he wondered if she was doing that same thing again.

He figured if the boy was really so famous to warrant this kind of security that his link to the Magical world would have heard about him. He called his daughter, now living in the States.

"Sarah it's me."

"Dad?"

"Yeah, lemme ask you something, have ever heard about a Harry Potter?"

"Everybody has heard of Harry Potter dad."

"Okay, Amelia asked me to find some information on him and I haven't been able to find anything other than a fake birth certificate in the non-magical world." Truly he didn't take offense to the word muggle, it just didn't feel right to use it referring to himself.

"Well that is a bit strange, but so is just about everything else when talking about Harry Potter." That sounded like there was at least a bit of a story there.

"What's so strange about the boy?"

"Well first off, he survived the Killing Curse." Michael Stevens was not the most knowledgeable muggle when it came to the magical world, but he knew the what the Killing Curse was. He had worked on far too many cases with Amelia and had too many conversations with his daughter not to know what it was.

"I thought no one had ever survived that curse."

"Up until fourteen years ago, no one had." Yes that definitely qualified as strange.

After a few more minutes of conversation to catch up, they both hung up and disconnected. He was now sure the boy exists, but what was up with his records. He wondered who was protecting the boy, and who would have the resources to make him not exist. If it was the boy was non-magical he'd say MI6, but he was betting that wasn't the case here.

* * *

It was the most feared prison in the magical world. The magical equivalent of Alcatraz. Designed to house the very worst that magic had to offer. To hide them down so deep that no light from any noon-day sun reached the prisoners. Complete darkness, guarded by the foulest watchmen on the planet. Beings that stole the vary warmth from the air, and brought the very worst of memories to the front of your mind.

Down on the lowest level, there were prisoners and there were Dementors. Nothing else walked the lowest level, nothing else wanted to. The only way the human guards on the upper levels even knew if the prisoners were still alive was by a single line on a piece of parchment in the warden's office. The Dementors Kiss wasn't even frowned upon as it was in other sections.

One soul had stayed on the lowest level of the prison for nearly fourteen years, but would not be there for much longer. She could hear it, the pounding on the walls. Her master was here. He had come. She cackled in delight. She would soon be free. Free to conclude some unfinished business.

"Hello Bellatrix."

* * *

AN: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Alright this will probably be a bit shorter Author's Note than previous. I hope. First if the Harry section of this story didn't at least somewhat peak your interest you might as well stop reading the story from now on. My opinion anyway. This is probably the last chapter until at least Friday because I have a test that day and as such need to actually study.

Second I realized I hadn't explained why I removed the Blood Quill. Quite frankly it's a stupid way to punish someone. It leaves very noticeable marks on one of the most visible parts of the body. So I dropped it, I will say that Dolores has a bit more subtle way of punishment.


	6. Chapter 5

Don't own Harry Potter, never will. Taco?

* * *

Another morning at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Another morning Harry Potter had to deal with Septima Vector's overly chippy attitude.

"Good morning Harry." No one should be that happy at eight o'clock in the morning, it defied the laws of common decency.

Harry grunted.

"Harry, do you have your needle." Harry it took it out and showed the golden needle in glass to his research partner.

"Good. Put it back in your pocket." Harry had absolutely no idea why she insisted on seeing it, but he would comply. There had to be some reason, at least he thought there had to be.

"Yesterday we covered a lot of magical theory, don't worry if you didn't understand all of it because we will be covering it in depth as we go along. Today, we are going to figure exactly how we're going to pull this off. We can't just start testing on Gold because that's dangerous and stupid. We also can't start on another element because you don't have the kind of control that you need to have to manipulate atoms. Are you following me so far Harry?" He nodded.

"Good, so what we are going to do is slowly build up your magical control to a point where you will hopefully be able to manipulate something on the atomic scale." So far Harry understood what they were doing and it made sense. He wasn't at all eager to try gold yet because he wasn't to eager to blow himself up.

"How are we going to build up my magical control?"

"Good question Harry, we will use models. You will make small changes to each model until you have mastered that size. When you have, we will move on to a smaller one, and you will manipulate that one until you have mastered it. This will continue until we are unable to make the models any smaller. At that point you will either need to make a significant jump from the model scale to the atomic scale, or we will have to devise some bridge between the two, either way it will be an interesting ride." She was still perky.

"Then what."

"After you have made the jump to the atomic scale we will attempt to have you manipulate some compounds. After compounds will come a single element. If we have made it that far and you can consistently manipulate an atom, we will have you attempt to manipulate particles." At that point Septima moved to her storage closet and pulled out a large cube. She came back and set it on the desk.

"This is the hard part Harry, you won't be able to use spells because there are no spells for what we are attempting to do. You have to will your magic to do what you want. Remember the connections for the kind of manipulation we are doing are already there, they are just weak. Trust magic to make that jump for you. Now why don't you try and morph the cube. Remember we want the intersections intact it is the edges which will need to be broken at this point." Harry wasn't exactly sure what Professor Vector wanted, but he tried anyway. Focusing on the cube, he tried to push his magic toward it while thinking of breaking an edge. And nothing happened.

"It didn't work." Harry's statement brought a very unexpected result. She laughed. She laughed a lot. After trying to reign in her laughter several times she was finally able to get herself under control, it was her fourth attempt.

"Harry we are trying magic that has never been done before, by anyone. Chances are nothing we are going to try is gonna work the first time." He felt a bit dumb now. "Don't worry Harry, it'll take time but we'll figure it out."

"Should I try again?"

"By all means."

Again Harry focused on the cube, but this time he did something a bit different. The night he had cast the Patronus to save himself and Sirius, he hadn't pushed his magic. It had just flown out of him. The knowledge that he had already cast the spell had allowed him to release his magic without needing push it as he normally did when casting. He tried that same thought at this time. He knew that what they were attempting could be done, because this was not gold and therefore was not subject to the exception. The results were spectacular to say the least.

Septima Vector was not a powerful witch, and did not have the connection with magic that most magical beings had. She would have had to have been a muggle to have missed the magic flowing through that room. It was astounding to watch. She guessed that the results . . . were not what Harry intended. She watched the cube explode as eight corners simultaneously went apart. Every edge was broken instantly. Harry went pale.

"I'm guessing that isn't what you wanted." His head snapped toward her shaking vigorously. "I think we may need to work on your control a bit. What did you do to provide us with such," she paused, "dramatic results."

"Er, In my third year there was a time when I cast my Patronus and instead of pushing the magic out, I just kind of released it. If that makes sense?" He didn't think it really did, but Vector was nodding.

"Harry, most wizards and witches need to push the magic out of themselves. This is usually attributed to their connection to magic, it is not strong enough to do what you have described. Very rarely there are those whose connection to magic is powerful enough that it naturally flows through them. Tell me Harry do magically saturated places such as Hogwarts or Diagon Alley feel different to you than places in the muggle world?" This was an odd question, but it was true for some reason he had always felt something different in the wizarding world. That first day at Hogwarts, it had already felt like home.

"Yes, I never really thought about it before, but yes I've always felt more comfortable, in the magical world. I always thought it was my relatives fault though." He shrugged and looked down.

"In part it probably was." Harry's head snapped back up. "Yes Harry, we are not all so naive as Severus. Most of us could see there was something there from the first time we saw you. However, I believe that your connection to magic also has something to do with it. Merlin himself, once described his body as a conduit." This was news to Harry. In fairness though, most everything Septima told him was news.

"Well Harry why don't we try that again, see if you can hold a little back this time."

For the rest of the time before class, Harry attempted to learn a bit of clue over the magic he released. It was slow progress, but he managed to make some. By the end of the time he had learned enough control that when the edges of the model broke, they didn't fly apart. He still hadn't managed to focus it on just one of the edges, but he hoped that control would happen in time.

* * *

After leaving the Arithmancy classroom Harry headed to Charms. The class passed normally without incident. The time after class; however, was very different. He spied Hermione walking toward him with a very large book. It was obvious that she intended to give him another lecture on exactly why his research goal was impossible. From the look on her face it would not be avoided.

"Harry, I don't know why you won't listen to me about transfiguring to or from gold, but I think you might listen to someone else. This book," pausing a for a few seconds in her speech to set the book down in front of him, "is a collection of work from the some of the greatest master's of transfiguration. It is in essence an anthology of published work from Transfiguration Masters. These articles detail the greatest work from some of the finest magical minds in history. Please, Harry just read one article." Hermione was not going to give up. Harry sighed.

"Fine Hermione, one article. I still don't see why you think it's going to change my mind." Apparently she didn't think it would be a problem and it was obvious why she thought so when he looked at the title of the article that she wanted him to read.

* * *

_Golden Magic, by Albus Dumbledore_

_Over millenia the greatest witches and wizards of time have all at one point or another tested the boundaries of their magic against any rules thought to exist at the time. There are very few rules when magic is involved, and given enough power it is entirely possible that there are in fact no rules. So perhaps it is better to say that there are very few rules when it comes to how humans utilize magic. However, there are five rules in the field of Transfiguration which have stood for thousands of years. One of those has been tested so repeatedly and with such spectacular failures as to almost make itself unquestionable. It is without question that, when considering magic, gold is the most peculiar naturally occurring element on earth. There have been no recorded instances of any one ever transfiguring to or from gold. All other known basic substances have at one point or another been successfully transfigured from another substance of different composition._

_This discontinuity begs the question, "What makes gold so different?" Arithmantic Masters have raved about the properties of gold, and how it is a magnificent paradox. Something so simple, and yet so complex. Salazar Slytherin's own research into the area concluded that there simply was no practical magical connection to gold. That on paper, gold was undeniably important, but in practice there simply was no connection of strength enough to use. In essence gold could not be manipulated by magic to produce an effect, that could not be produced by physical means. Godric Gryffindor concluded much the same. Gryffindor put forth that there needed to be a universal constant, that something had to be beyond change. That magic could not do everything or it would do nothing. Hufflepuff believed that many connections were simply too small, and that the magic required to manipulate any of these connections would destroy them. Ravenclaw decided that the magical connections were too weak and that any attempt to pass magic over them would result in terrible spell backlash._

_All four Hogwart's founders conclusions have evidence to support their claims. Ravenclaw's in particular seems irrefutable, as the magical backlash for attempting to transfigure gold has been studied and each of those studies concluded that the power that was put into the spell to transfigure gold was returned at levels that suggested harmonic resonance on the return trip. Nicolas Flamel with the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, is the only recorded instance of any magical manipulation of gold. This however is not transfiguration, it is in actuality conjuration. Truly production from nothing. However spell conjuration cannot replicate the affect which has been exhibited time and time again._

_I myself have tried to transfigure gold, and have attempted such on several occasions. Each time I met with spectacular failure. The first thing I tried was overpowering the connection and it resulted in dire consequences. Had help not arrived in a timely fashion, I would not be alive to submit this article. I tried on four other occasions, each time with a different approach. My second try was a plan I thought worthy of Slytherin himself. I attempted to push a minute amount of magic through the connection and keep the connection open longer. I had hoped this would produce a very gradual change. The results of this experiment were almost worse than the first attempt. The only reason they were not was my forward thinking in shielding myself both magically and physically before experimenting. The magic was not enough to push completely through the connection and as such got stuck halfway through. For hours I poured magic in and it built and built, until it exploded back at me. The results of trials three, four and five were very much the same. Each time I tried a different possible theory, and each time I met with failure._

_After my fifth unsuccessful attempt I began to wonder exactly what would cause such disaster. I could not find a single theory that would account for all five of my attempts. They were simply to varied. So I attempted to find a combination of theories which might account for my failure. I have concluded that all four Hogwarts founders were in fact correct. Slytherin was correct that no connection to gold is strong enough for magical usage, Gryffindor was correct that without a standard change has no meaning, Hufflepuff was correct that magic was to broad to pass through the connections, and Ravenclaw has been proven correct time and time again. There are very few rules concerning magic, but it seems that there is most assuredly one._

* * *

After reading the article he had to give it to Hermione, it was an intelligent choice. There was only one problem it did not account for his and Vector's strategy. Yes the magical connections would be a problem, but as Septima described it by the time they were ready to attempt the theory Harry should be able to literally shape the magic to fit any connection.

"It is a good choice of articles Hermione." He knew this wasn't going to go well so he hedged a bit complimenting her attempt.

"So you agree that it is impossible, that gold is just to unstable." Hermione looked triumphant. The usual expression she got when she was right.

"No, I don't." That got the reaction he was expecting. Hermione looked about two seconds from killing him.

"Why not?! You just read an article written by Dumbledore himself! Why don't you believe it?!" She was livid. It just didn't make sense to her. He was denying what was written in black and white.

"I don't believe it because it doesn't account for the kind of manipulation that we will be attempting. We will be specifically designing the magic we are going to use to manipulate particles Hermione. Particles. Dumbledore's paper accounts for everything but that. The fact that we would be transfiguring gold is a side effect of what we are actually doing." Harry wasn't totally sure on this one, but that was what Vector had told him when he was trying to manipulate the model. That because particles are universal they would concentrate on manipulating them, and that would allow them to manipulate gold by in effect ignoring that it was gold. At least it that was how it worked in theory.

* * *

Alastor Moody was quite possibly the most paranoid man in Britain, he believed he had a right to be and having captured or helped to capture half the inmates of Azkaban he might have had a point. After a mass breakout of Death Eaters, it was even possible that he was more paranoid than ever. However, he would gladly face all ten Death Eater escapees in a duel, than go on this particular errand. On this in September, Alastor Moody would be informing the current Headmaster of Hogwarts and heralded leader of light of a mass escape and more discouraging Amelia Bones search of Harry Potter's records. Which is why he was currently standing half way up the revolving stairs wondering if it might be better to inform Albus over a floo connection.

"Alastor, do come up. I daresay you've been standing there for several minutes and it is rather disconcerting." Moody cursed, he wasn't sure how Albus always knew. Whenever he asked, he was either ignored or Albus responded in only the most vague of terms. Never-the-less he continued up to the Headmaster's office and opened the door.

"I hate it when you do that." Dumbledore chuckled in response.

"I do believe I reached that conclusion when you nearly blasted my door to pieces eighteen years ago."

"That was because you," Moody stopped and gestured in the Headmaster's direction, "had Voldemort on the defensive and didn't bother to finish him off, not because you knew I was standing on the other side of the door." It was true. Nearly all of the duels between Dumbledore and Riddle had been effectively stalemates, but Dumbledore with some help from Moody had managed to push the Dark Lord into a figurative corner. Dumbledore had not ended Voldemort there, and he had escaped. Moody had been quite seriously pissed off.

"Yes I remember now. Now to what do I owe the honor of your presence, I do doubt that you would come to chat in these trying times." To those who Dumbledore best that was the equivalent of, "I'm rather busy this better be good."

"Two reasons actually. The first is not unexpected. Riddle pulled his captured servants from Azkaban yesterday. The ministry lost contact before the breakout and it has only recently been reestablished. I doubt that the Dark Lord left any survivors, none have been found so far. I'm guessing we can assume that there will be no reports of him ever standing on Azkaban's soil."

"While it is not good news, it is news that we have been expecting for sometime. I believe that you are right and there will be no survivors. Tom has been enjoying his secret existence, and it benefits him too much to remain in the shadows for the time being. What will the Prophet say tomorrow?"

"My contacts say that the primary blame will be placed on Black. I hear that there is a rather large hole in the side of Azkaban and I don't know how they justify the belief that he had enough power to do that. Actually, I doubt they will explain it at all. I would expect to see Sirius declared the new leader of the Death Eaters within the day." Dumbledore nodded, it was a likely strategy for Cornelius. Pass off everything as the work of Sirius Black and hope that no one asks the tough questions. With the Daily Prophet in his pocket, and The Quibbler focused on . . . other issues, it would be unlikely that any questions would be asked at all.

"I believe you are correct, nothing else will come of this from the Ministry's side. What about your shadier contacts, have they got anything?" Moody wondered why Albus didn't just say criminal. It wasn't like he would deny it.

"Nothing. Nothing they are willing to spill right now anyway. A couple have been approached by feelers but nothing more than that." There was a disturbing trend. Tom had always played his cards close to his chest, but in the past there was always some sign of a plan. Something that the Order could work with. It seemed lately that he had even given up on the prophecy, which begged the question what was he doing?

"You said two things?"

"Aye, I did. The second one, while it has nothing to do with Riddle, is worse. Several people have reported to me that Amelia is looking through Potter's records. All of them." Moody was right that was worse. There were many things that Albus Dumbledore was not proud of, the lengths that he had to go to in the process of protecting Harry Potter was definitely one of them.

"That is disturbing, we both know she will find nothing. What she does after will be the question."

"We both know what she'll do too. When she's run out of other options, she'll come to Hogwarts." Moody was staring straight into Dumbledore's eyes as he said this.

"I do believe you are correct, and I daresay that will not be a fun conversation." Dumbledore sighed and stroked his hand through his beard. "Where do you see this ending Alastor?" Moody thought for awhile, going over every scenario in his head. He knew both Dumbledore and Bones well, and he believed he knew the end game. He winced in thought.

"She will come here. She'll have found nothing on Potter, and she'll know you are the reason why. I've known Amelia for a very long time. She is a machine when on one of her little projects. She will work almost tirelessly until the truth has been found. She knows you have the truth and because of that, she will play every card in her hand. What will you do if she finds the truth?" Moody generally wondered. He believed that Bones eventually would figure it out, but he also knew that the truth was very well hidden and it could take a long time to find.

"When she finds the truth. I have known her just as long as you have, and given enough time she will find what little evidence is left. I think I'll probably have to duck." Moody grinned.

"You've got that right. She'll be right mad when she figures out exactly what you did. You better get ready to deal with her too, she's got to be getting very close to the end of the trail she's on right now."

"I think you are correct. In the meantime we will wait. Thank you for the information Alastor, it will help to be ready for her arrival. Please continue checking with your contacts, there must be some clue to Tom's plan. We just haven't found it yet." Alastor Moody nodded recognizing the dismissal for what it was. He turned and walked out of the Headmaster's office leaving a very old wizard behind him.

"Fawkes, I do hope Amelia will understand." Fawkes trilled in a way that couldn't be mistaken for anything but what it was. He was laughing. "Yes that is the conclusion I had drawn as well." Dumbledore sighed. Amelia Bones was the picture of a Hufflepuff. Loyal, determined, and hard working to the bitter end. She was also an idealist in many ways. She would not see the reasons Dumbledore had to give as good enough for Harry's placement at the Dursley's. Albus wasn't sure he saw them as good enough anymore either.

* * *

Both Moody and Dumbledore were right, Amelia was fast approaching the point where she would have to go to Hogwarts. The stately witch was at present sitting at a muggle diner in London waiting for an old friend. Her search continued to pull up nothing, and she hoped that Mike's search would have better results. She would be disappointed. Michael Stevens walked through the door and proceeded directly to his old acquaintance.

"Amelia this kid is a ghost." That was not what she wanted to hear.

"You found nothing I take it."

"Almost less than nothing. I have four reports of his existence, only one is a an actual document." He was being vague, that wasn't good.

"The document is a birth certificate?" He nodded. "What are your other reports?"

"The first is from my daughter who I called to see whether you were having fun with me, she said that quote 'Everybody knows Harry Potter dad.'" Amelia smiled, she could imagine Sarah being rather condescending while saying that. "The second is surprisingly from my ex-wife. She said, 'He's that little miscreant that stays at the Dursley's every now and then.' And the third is from my son. He said, 'He's Dudley's weird cousin. Little freak.' I was not amused at that last part."

"Seems that the Dursley's have done a fine job of turning the neighborhood against their nephew." Amelia wasn't surprised. It was obvious that they thought of him as a burden, and definitely not normal. Though Harry Potter wasn't normal, even for a wizard.

"I definitely agree with that. I don't know exactly what is going on, but it seems as though everything you would expect to find on the boy either never existed or has been removed."

"As much as I was hoping that you would have found something more, I'm not surprised you didn't. Seems Dumbledore has gone to great lengths to hide everything about Harry from any eyes that might search for him."

"What do you intend to do now?"

"I'll take the only option I have left, Dumbledore. If he'll consent to see me. He's been dodging me for weeks. His order is getting in the way of me doing my job, and so he hasn't been receptive to my company. If it continues to happen after this, I'll go to Hogwarts and blow that golem of his to pieces." Mike had rarely seen Amelia mad. It had only happened on a couple of occasions in the time that he had known her. The results were never pretty. He felt a bit sorry for the Headmaster.

"I don't envy him. I should be going though. It was good to see you again Amelia, sometime you might even consider looking me up when it isn't a case."

"I'll see you later Mike, don't get yourself killed alright."

With that the two friends departed from the diner and departed back to different worlds again.

* * *

Bellatrix was free. She found she rather liked the taste of freedom. However, as nice as it was to be out, she wanted to play. There were so many Muggles and Mudbloods. She wanted to hear screaming. The tears, the pain, it was all a game to her. Bellatrix Lestrange knew pain, she knew torment. She loved both. She hoped that her master would let her play. It had been so long. Azkaban, for those like Bella was almost trivial. When you enjoy pain, enjoy suffering, the Dementor's effect was almost fun. She had relived all those moments of torture endlessly. Now she wanted to do it again. To feel it all, again.

"Master, you summoned me?"

"Come closer Bella." She did so quickly. When she was near she knelt to the ground. "Bella are you glad to be back?"

"I am, My Lord."

"I know you are, and I know you want to play." He knew, he always knew.

"I do, My Lord."

"Everything will come in time Bella, soon enough you'll have the chance to play. I think you also want another shot at a boy who escaped your grasp, just as I want to finish a boy who escaped mine." Voldemort grinned at the thought, he'd have Harry Potter one way or another. The boy had escaped, the connection of the wands was something that had caught him off guard and allowed Potter the time he needed to escape. He'd cast a powerful disarming spell, but it was still a disarming charm. In that situation it was foolish to consider such a basic spell. By pure luck the boy had escaped, it would not happen again.

While Tom Riddle had retreated into his own mind thinking about Harry Potter, Bella had done something similar. She did not go into the same depth her lord though. She settled for something much simpler. I'll have you little Longbottom.

"Master, you know I wish it."

"I do Bella, and I promise you will have it. You must be patient though. Plans are already set in motion to give us both what we want in the end. Potter will be dead before his next school year, and with his death the light will fall. Then you shall have your reward, for unquestioning service."

"Thank you Master." She could not even look in the direction of her lord now. Bella was so happy he would provide her prize.

"There is much to do before then Bella, we must do many things to prepare."

* * *

AN: I got tired of studying (read: I'm bored out of my mind) so I decided to write a chapter. So you get chapter five a day earlier than I predicted. The one thing I want to say that has nothing to do with the story is, I hate the Harry section of this chapter. With a passion. The problem is I hated all the other versions I tried to write today more. They were all a little bit too "Feel the force Luke." And in case you didn't notice Septima is kind of an up and down character, I think it's fun to write her like that. Other than that I have a few things to say before I answer reviews so I'll get right to it.

First: Magical theory in this chapter at some points contradicts and some points is different than what Septima told Harry. The Dumbledore parts were done probably around eighty or ninety years before this so Magical theory has evolved a little, the founders parts were done long before that. The reason Harry's is a bit different is because right now is because Harry is a parrot, he doesn't really understand what Vector is telling him, so as a result when he tries to explain it to some one else he messes up a bit.

Second: The Stevens family, I had expected some one to comment on this, but no one did. I figure that means either you A)Didn't care, B)Didn't realize, C)Figured I had messed up, or the one I hope is true D) Figured it out. Yes Mike has two children, and his son resents his daughter, sound familiar? Neither will probably make another appearance but I thought it'd be a fun insert into the story.

Third: I didn't put this in previous chapters and I should have. I know people are gonna have ideas about what the Golden Needle represents. Please, please, please keep them to yourselves. I'm hoping that not everyone will figure it out. If they do, the last chapter isn't gonna be nearly as fun.


	7. Chapter 6

I don't own Harry Potter, but I'd like to own Luna.

* * *

With the passing of the weekend, Harry returned to continue to learn control of his magic. In many ways he was frustrated, but Professor Vector had told him that it would be slow work. That that was what research was slow work. Hypothesize, test, and re-hypothesize. He would continue to attempt to manipulate model making only the slightest changes. Harry didn't remember the line about repetitive breaking of cubes when McGonagall and Vector were trying to get him to help on this little project. He also knew exactly why he didn't remember it. They never told him. Still, he kept at it, and was slowly gaining ever more control. Even if it was still only the first model. Strangely, Vector still insisted she see his needle whenever she saw him. That was in all actuality fine as, due the her behavior, he had taken to carrying it with him at all times.

Nothing much else had happened to him either. Hermione was still avoiding him, and Ron still wondered why he was getting up so early every morning to do schoolwork. Harry was having, at least in his opinion, the slowest year in his Hogwarts' career so far.

* * *

Other people however, were not having such relaxing years. That is why we move from the Arithmancy classroom to top office of Hogwarts, that of the Headmaster. Albus Dumbledore was a man of much responsibility. He was responsible for the safety of his students, and in many cases the safety of the wizarding world. He was responsible for the lives of children and adults alike. Fifteen years ago he was responsible for the life of Harry Potter. It was his choice that placed the child in the home of the Dursley's and in a few minutes he would face a small portion of the consequences of that choice. Amelia Bones had informed him by owl that she would be in front of his office at precisely six in the evening on Monday, she had also informed him that he would be in his office at that time. It was fast approaching six and Amelia Bones was not late.

"Albus, move this infernal golem now!" He winced having forgotten to inform the guardian to allow her up when she arrived. Several minutes later, Amelia Bones was standing in front of his desk wearing a decidedly annoyed look. "Albus, you know why I'm here. I'm sure you've been informed of my reasons by now." He nodded. "First, I would like to ask you exactly why you and your Order are trying to make my life so difficult."

"Amelia, I don't know exactly what you might be implying."

"Albus save it. You run an illegal vigilante organization, it has members from nearly every major wizarding entity in Britain. Several of my own Aurors are members." Albus, though he hid it, was surprised. He had known of course that Amelia knew of the Order of the Phoenix, she had been approached multiple times for recruitment; however, he did not know she knew that several of the current Aurors were members.

"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about Amelia." Standard response for a third party entity.

"Merlin Albus! Do you know how much time I spend every week cleaning up for your Order? I have to submit three reports a day for their little jaunts into the DoM. Your Order is not made up completely by professionals, most of them leave a trail. The rest I can spot in other ways. Did you really think that I was so incompetent as to miss the fact that both Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks are constantly walking around dead on their feet?" In all actuality he did believe that both would be able to accomplish their Order duties without alerting the Head of the DMLE.

"The Order is needed."

"I'm not denying that Albus! If you would listen. As long as Fudge denies Voldemort has returned. Oh don't look so surprised. I believe you, or more realistically, I believe Harry Potter. Realistically, yes the Order is needed because I don't have the manpower to oppose him. You could at least not tread so obviously into affairs that I am in charge of overseeing. If I was in Fudge's pocket, I would have already been sent here to arrest you, two of my Aurors, and at least three members of the Ministry that I can name off the top of my head. I will not be able to hide your actions forever, so I would suggest being a bit more discrete about them. At this rate, I doubt you will make it until Christmas before I or more likely Dawlish is brought here to arrest you." This meeting was not going as he had planned, it was definitely going worse. Albus Dumbledore had not been reprimanded in a very long time. Especially for being unprofessional.

"I will take your words under advisement Amelia."

"In others words, you'll tell your members to be quieter but otherwise change nothing. This would be a lot easier for all concerned if you would work with me instead of against me." Bones had decided that it was apparent that the Dumbledore would not be listening to her anymore and figured that if she could at least get him to be a bit more discrete, she would take it as a win.

"You could, of course, join the Order." This was not an unfamiliar suggestion but it was one which she would not budge.

"The top legal officer in the land will not join an illegal vigilante organization, I will turn my back to some of your actions so long as they do not cross too far over the line. That is as far as I am willing to go."

"Very well Amelia. I assume there was another issue you wanted to discuss with me." He knew there was and wanted to get it over with.

"Yes there is, I'm sure you will have also been informed of my investigation into Harry Potter's background." She paused and waited for his reply.

"I have been informed."

"When I met Harry with Susan that day I noticed a number of very odd things. The most obvious was the clothes he was wearing. He was swimming in them, not only that but the boy appeared to be well underweight. The next thing I noticed, was the boy is reluctant to talk about his home life. Finally upon returning the boy to his relative's home, I received a very rude welcome. I don't know about you Albus but those sound like signs of definite neglect and at least mild abuse."

"He has had a tough home life. It was unfortunately needed for his protection."

"I assume it has something to do with blood wards." Once again Amelia had surprised him. He nodded. "Please don't be so surprised Albus, I remember Lily Potter's maiden name just as well as anyone."

"Yes Lily's sacrifice gave Harry protection from those who wish him harm."

"You mean it gave him protection from those who Voldemort commanded and from Voldemort himself," suggested Bones.

"You are correct."

"While I don't doubt that he is protected from Voldemort there, I do doubt your placement. I find it very hard to believe you could not have found another place for him to be safe." Amelia looked stern.

"Voldemort's follower's could have gotten to him anywhere else." That was true, the blood wards could not be invoked anywhere else.

"Really? You have connections to the most influential wizards and witches in the world, and you say that the is not one single place on Earth you could have hidden the boy."

"No place where his safety could be guaranteed. You are correct, there are places I could have taken him that would have been difficult to trace, but his secrecy and survival would not have been assured." Dumbledore didn't seem to want to go into anymore detail, and it was unlikely she was going to get anymore than for his safety as a reason. She wanted more information on exactly why, but Dumbledore had used the same line three times and it was unlikely that was going to change.

"Very well, I will let that subject go for the time being because he is at school and will not have to deal with them for at least nine months, but we will talk about this again. I'm not sure exactly how you managed to decide how he was placed there in the first place, as head of the Wizengamot you would still have no authority over an orphan, but I will let it go for now. Harry is alive after all. I do have one more thing that I would like to ask. Who exactly is Harry Potter's Magical Guardian? He would have been assigned one and there is none in his file, nor any those people who I feel would be likely guardians." Amelia waited. It seemed that he was going to have to give an answer at some point.

"His Magical Guardian is his godmother." That was not the answer Amelia expected. She had been over Harry Potter's file many more times than once and one thing was always apparent.

"Harry Potter has no godmother. I've seen his Birth Certificate and files associated with it."

"In point of fact he does. The information was removed from his file several days after the death of the Potters."

"Removed by Moody I suppose." Again Dumbledore was shocked. He knew Amelia was intelligent but it was beginning to look like she had information that went far beyond what he knew was possible. "Albus, you are not thorough enough to tie up every loose end in a conspiracy of the magnitude that would be required to make Harry Potter disappear from both Ministry and Muggle records. Alastor Moody, on the other hand, is. Does Harry Potter's godmother know that she's his guardian?"

"She was informed?"

"Yes, she would need to be otherwise she could not be his guardian. Was she obliviated afterward?" Albus would not meet her eye after that one. "I'll take your silence as a yes. There had better be a very good reason for the lengths you have gone to."

"Is his survival not enough?" That was a cheap shot, and he knew it.

"You would not have gone to these lengths because Death Eaters were after him. You would have hid the boy, but you would not have erased his existence. Based on your Order's activities in the DoM, I'll draw my own conclusions. Well Albus, as much fun as this has been, I do have other things to do. We must do this again sometime." A hard stare accompanied the statement making it very clear that there would be more conversations to come.

"My door is always open Amelia." The sparkle was back in his eye, as Madam Bones opted to conclude the conversation.

With that Amelia headed for the door, but before she left she gave one last parting shot, "Albus if I find it was you that had the Listening Charm placed in my office, I will not be so willing to overlook your organization's actions. That was way over the line." With that she was gone.

The headmaster slumped down into his chair. The meeting had gone better than he expected. Better; however, did not me well. Sighing he got to work on new plans to make the Order's activities a bit more discrete.

* * *

While Bones and Dumbledore were having a meeting in the Headmaster's office, there was another meeting taking place in the Headmistress's office. This one was quite different. Hermione Granger had come to her wits end. Harry had always listened to her about magic before, why was he not doing so now? She needed advice, and as such had approached Professor McGonagall about a meeting after classes so she might get some advice.

"Ms. Granger, what can I do for you today?"

"Professor McGonagall, I need some advice. I just. I just don't understand Harry right now. He always used to listen to me, but right he just seems to ignore me." McGonagall had a good idea of exactly what she meant by ignore. She had thought that Harry's participation in the research might cause some friction between the two friends.

"What exact kind of advice do you need?"

"I want to know how I can get Harry to see reason. This research makes no sense, and it's dangerous." McGonagall in all honesty did not believe that Gamp's Exceptions to Transfiguration could be bypassed but that was not the only reason she wanted to see Harry participate.

"I do hope you haven't been discouraging Mr. Potter from continuing."

"What do you mean, of course I've been discouraging him from doing this. It isn't logical." That didn't sit well with the Deputy Headmistress.

"Ms. Granger, what is your opinion of Mr. Potter's academics?"

"Not very good. He doesn't apply himself anywhere but Defense, when Defense class is actually worth anything anyway. He and Ron for the most part do just enough to pass and no more." That was a fair statement of Harry Potter's work so far.

"Yet the first time he finds something that does inspire him, you want him to stop?" That statement drew the results the professor was looking for. In simplest terms, Hermione's jaw dropped.

"I. . . but . . . he." Hermione could only sputter in response apparently. Unable to fully comprehend the statement. She had thought McGonagall would agree with her, but she didn't and had a very good reason not to.

"Ms. Granger, you are correct he has never truly applied himself in class and as such fails to reach his full potential. If he has finally found something that does interest him, who are you to stop him?"

"I don't want to stop him from reaching his potential. I just don't see why he's choosing this particular subject. Do you think he'll succeed?" Hermione truly wanted to know. Everything she had ever read on the subject had said that it was impossible.

"It does not matter whether he succeeds or not. It matters whether he tries. He and Professor Vector both seem to think it is possible. While I have my doubts, Professor Vector is a brilliant scientist and Mr. Potter is a very powerful wizard. Together they could do something great, and I won't try to stop them."

"So I should just let this go and stay out of it?" Hermione didn't know what to do. She still believed that transfiguring to or from gold was impossible, but she didn't want to stunt her friends potential either?

"Why would you need to stay out of it. Knowing Septima as I do, I'm sure she has thrown much more magical theory at Mr. Potter than he understands. You could help him understand better. Maybe along the way he'll help you as well."

"I don't know. I guess I could help him, but I still don't think it's possible."

"Maybe it isn't, but not everything that is written is true. Let them try, and if it doesn't work, they will still have tried." Hermione seemed to consider the suggestion. It wasn't in her nature to support something she believed would fail, but it seemed that McGonagall thought that success or failure wasn't the most important thing. The most important thing was the attempt.

"I'll think about it, thank you Professor."

"A pleasure Ms. Granger."

With the goodbye's given Hermione Granger left to consider her favorite teacher's words. She retreated to the place she was most likely to be found outside of class, the library.

* * *

It must have been a night for meetings, as not long after Hermione left McGonagall's office, in another part of the castle a woman spoke into the fire. She placed a floo call to the highest single authority in the land, the Minister of Magic.

"Minister, the Potter boy continues to be disruptive. He also continues to claim that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back."

"We need to get him to stay quiet. It is bad enough that Dumbledore continues to spout that ridiculous rumor." Cornelius Fudge was not the brightest of men, but he was not the dimmest either. He knew that if both Dumbledore and Potter continued to say that You-Know-Who was back, eventually people were going to start believing them. That was not good, it would cause panic. He knew he would also be partially blamed for his return. It was also likely that the people would want a new Minister, one who would be accustomed to dealing with a war. Therefore, to insure that he kept his authority he needed one of them to be silenced. He could not go after Dumbledore directly, he was too highly regarded. He would also fight back. Harry Potter, on the other hand, was a child. Someone who did not have the resources to fight a public relations war. He was an easy target. That is why the Prophet had been making not so subtle insinuations of his imbalance all summer. That was a start, but would not combat the source directly.

"I have tried, he has not been receptive to any suggestions to the otherwise. Detentions seem to mean nothing to him either. I doubt with my present authority I can persuade him otherwise." Dolores Umbridge was an ambitious woman. She wanted power and knew an opportunity when she saw one. That was why she was Defense Professor.

"Then we will see about getting you more power."

* * *

AN: This is the first of what will probably several intermittent chapters that do not center on Harry and Septima. Hopefully there will not be many of them as it is rather hard to move a story forward when an entire chapter doesn't include your main characters, but because the world does not in fact revolve around Harry Potter and because research is slow progress there will be a couple.

So I have a very large deviation from Canon this chapter and isn't it exciting. I hope that in Harry's absence the story was still interesting. Also we got to see Dumbledore speaking to a quasi-equal, which is why he might seem a bit out of character. The grandfather act would annoy Amelia as I have written her so I kept it out of their conversation. That is pretty much everything I want to mention right now so I'll answer reviews.


	8. Chapter 7

I don't own Harry Potter. Really I don't.

* * *

For the fifteenth time that morning Harry Potter's eyes centered on the middle of the model in front of him. For the fifteenth time his began to release a little of his magic to break one of the edges between corners. And for the fifteenth time all eight corners separated from each other leaving the model completely destroyed. Septima Vector sighed, and moved toward Harry.

"Alright that's enough for the moment. Harry you are learning to control the flow of your magic very quickly, but your magic is still wholly unfocused."

"Unfocused?" Harry wasn't exactly sure what she meant. He was after all controlling the magic better with the intent of only breaking one edge, what was he doing wrong?

"Yes unfocused. Think of a piece of glass Harry. Now if I were to push against the glass with the end of a thin metal rod what would happen?"

"The glass would break."

"Correct. No if I were to spread that pressure across the whole surface of the glass, would the glass still break?"

"Er, I guess if the pressure wasn't terribly great the glass wouldn't break."

"You're right Harry. Remember that Magic's energy connects everything. To manipulate something we push a bit more energy over a particular connection. Right now you are releasing your magic over the connection with the intent of breaking an edge so it breaks, but because you aren't focusing the magic and your magic is strong enough it spreads across multiple bonds and thus completely destroys the box. You need to learn to focus the magic so it only travels across the bond that you want it to." He understood that, or at least it made sense, but he had no idea how to accomplish it.

"How do I do that?"

"I don't know." Harry's eyes went wide. There were very few times that Professor Vector had said that she didn't know something, and he couldn't remember a single time she had said it about magical theory. "Harry pick up your jaw, and bring your eye lids down before your eyes pop out. I don't know everything and learning to focus raw magic is something only know to those who can control it. That list is very short."

"So how do I figure out how to do it, or if I even can?" He was confused if she didn't know how, how was he supposed to learn?

"Try a mental image of something that makes sense to you. Try thinking of a laser pointed at a particular edge. The better the image is for you, the easier it will be to focus the magic to accomplish that task. Think about what I told you to do Harry. All I said was break one of the edges. I didn't say they had to be pulled apart, I just said that one had to be broken."

Harry thought of different images he might use, and he rejected the first few that he thought of. It wasn't till he thought of the needle he came up with an image that he thought might work. He considered this for a little while and decided that he probably wasn't going to come up with a better idea at least right at the moment. The mental image of a needle point would have to do for now.

"I think I might have something that will work." Honestly Harry wasn't sure at all, but he did believe that he could eventually make the image work.

"Well you could say that with a bit more confidence, but I suppose as long as you can use your will with the image it won't matter all that much." That was not totally true, belief would play a very large role in the future of the research. Right now though, Harry might be able to get away with faking it and belief would come in time. "Alright Harry why don't you try again."

Harry once again began releasing his magic, but this time he visualized the magic traveling down the needle and impacting the model at the tip. Like many times before, the results were not exactly as he intended. He did manage to only break one edge, but that edge was obliterated.

"Harry, I would say that you can definitely use that image. In fact, I think the image may work a bit to well right now. You managed to focus your magic, in fact you exceeded what was needed at this point." Now he was really confused. He focused to much?

"What do you mean? I don't understand, too focused?" Vector chuckled and Harry wondered exactly how much entertainment Professor Vector got from these sessions.

"Yes Harry, too focused. You managed to focus your magic on a very small area, which in the future will be a very good thing. The problem is you still released the same amount of magic and in effect put so much pressure at such a high rate on that one point that the glass didn't crack, it shattered. You will need to learn a bit more control before you can use that image to the proper effect." That wasn't news really Harry knew he still needed to learn control after all they were still working on the first model. "Go ahead and try again."

Harry continued to try to attempt to gain greater control over his magical release for the rest of the morning session and did make some progress by the end. At this point Septima decided to ask a question.

"Harry, do you use anything we try in your other classes?" Although Harry didn't know it, the question was prompted by a discussion she had with several of the other Hogwarts' teachers. It was simple, Harry had shown great progress in just a couple days of practice but apparently had shown no real increased aptitude in his classes. Considering the control that he had already gained, it didn't really make sense that he would still be struggling at simple spells introduced in charms.

"No, should I?"

"Do you think it would help you?" Typical Vector response. Give him an indication of the answer but leave the rest up to him.

"I just don't see how it really relates. I can probably release my magic when I do regular spells, but they would come up completely overpowered wouldn't they?" Harry was curious as to what Septima thought. He had in several occasions thought about trying to use what he learned here in class, but had always thought it might be a bit dangerous.

"It is true Harry that you would probably overpower the majority of your spells for awhile, but the extra practice might help you to learn a bit more control. What about the extra focus like you did today?"

"I guess that some things would work very well." He shrugged.

"Why don't you try it. How about a simple lumos spell? Don't try to control the release on it, but focus like you did earlier."

Now those people familiar with the muggle world and its technology would have a very good idea of exactly what was probably going to be the result. Harry wasn't stupid, he knew what a laser was. He also wondered if this would produce the result his usual forays into experimental magic.

"Lumos." Concentrating on the beam he knew was the point of the experiment he knew was the purpose, he cast his spell. The result was much what he thought it would be. The light could be described as a white laser directed at the model functioning as a target, the result was not unexpected either. It was; however, volatile. The target burst into flames after a couple of seconds. Apparently magical light transferred energy too. With a quick water spell to douse the flames, Vector was ready to talk again.

"Harry, most of what you will learn will be applicable to normal casting as well. Knowing your history, I think you might be interested in exactly what some spells when dramatically focused or overpowered will do. Think about what might happen with the spells you use in class, and if safely possible go ahead and try such things. Well, I see that our time is up again. Shoo!" Harry was unceremoniously pushed out the door, and on his way to Charms.

He thought about what Vector had said. It was a good point, what would a focused Reducto do to a wall?

Unfortunately, He would not be able to test his magic in Charms that day, at least not the way he wanted to. He did attempt to overpower one spell, but the results were nothing spectacular. Not spectacular enough to get anymore attention than he usually had anyway. He didn't want to try anything in transfiguration yet, that was asking for trouble.

* * *

Harry's day continued much as usual until after his last class, Herbology. After ward he had decided to avoid detention and instead hang out down by the lake.

"Harry, what are you doing out here?" Harry was at this point sitting under a tree, ditching an Umbridge detention.

"Hi Susan, I decided that I would probably strangle Umbridge if I had another detention with her so soon." Harry had, in reality, decided that he would probably burn her office to the ground if he had to listen to the toad woman again so soon.

"Harry Potter's great act of defiance, skipping." Enter Hannah, who as usual needed to make some comment concerning Harry's more adventurous traits. Harry rolled his eyes.

"That was bad Hannah, even for you." It was after all not exactly up to her standards.

"Well you didn't exactly give me much to work with. I mean it isn't like you stood up and declared You-Know-Who's return recently right." Since Harry had in fact done that recently, several times, he decided that it was better off to just move on.

"So what brings you two down here?" The question brought an amusing response in his opinion anyway.

"Susan." "Hannah." The responses said by each girl in their attempts to each blame the other.

"That wasn't ominous at all." Harry didn't think it was a good sign when girls went out of their way to seek you out, and then avoided the reason why. His fears were increased exponentially when the girls sat down on either side of him.

"Harry we have a problem," spoke Susan. **"A big problem."**, followed Hannah. "It seems to me." **"And to me." **"That there are many things that we are not learning in defense." **"Like defense."** Now Harry was really scared. The twin act meant that there was something that the girls wanted, and most likely he wasn't going to like it.

"I'm not going to like this am I?" He was absolutely sure he wasn't.

"Of course you will Harry." **"Maybe."** "Harry, we need to learn defense." **"I don't want to die." **Now he knew he was in trouble. Hannah had played that last part very dramatically. She had fallen onto his shoulder shaking with tears in her eyes. There might have been a fluttering of eyelashes too. He was also starting to see where they were going with this particular drama.

"Why do I get the feeling that you want me to teach you defense?" Susan jumped at Harry's not quite suggestion.

"Harry it is so nice of you to offer." Wait a minute, he didn't offer to teach them.

"Wait I didn't . . ." Hannah cut him off before he could contradict Susan's acceptance of Harry's not-an-offer.

"Thanks Harry, just tell us when you have time." The girls were already getting up and moving away. He wasn't exactly sure how this had happened.

"Hey, wait . . ." Harry got up and started after the girls.

"Oh don't worry Harry, you can just tell us when you have time later." Susan waved him off and continued down the path.

"But I didn't . . ." Harry was stubborn. He wouldn't be alive if he wasn't. The problem was the Hufflepuff's had a plan, and were executing it flawlessly.

"We know you need time to decide what to teach Harry, we'll be there when you're ready." Hannah interjected and the two entered Hogwarts effectively escaping any objection Harry might have had.

"Why does this always happen to me?" He mumbled to himself.

After being roped into yet another thing he wasn't sure he really wanted to do Harry made his way toward Gryffindor tower.

* * *

Upon reaching Gryffindor Tower, he found that it would not be the end of the night. Sitting in the common room were both Ron and Hermione. The first was furiously scribbling out something on parchment, the second had a decidedly nervous look on her face. He figure that had something to do with him.

"Harry, could I talk to you for a minute?" Hermione was always direct, well mostly.

"Sure Hermione what do you need?" He privately hoped it wasn't another lecture about his research with Vector. As it turned out he would be pleasantly surprised.

"I want to apologize. I shouldn't have pushed you so hard." She still looked nervous and was currently fidgeting in her seat. It didn't really surprise him, after all the two had never really had problems before.

"Er, no problem."

"It was Harry, it wasn't right of me to try to stop you. I should have let you come to your own conclusions. . ." She was obviously not happy.

"Hermione. Hermione." Harry attempted to get her attention. It didn't really work. She was off on another one of her rants, which was odd as she was currently listing everything she thought she should have done differently. "Hermione!" That got her attention. "It's okay."

"Thanks Harry!" He was summarily subjected to a bone-crushing Hermione Hug. "So where have you been? Isn't it a bit early for you to be out of detention?"

"I didn't go today."

"Harry you didn't go! You'll get in more trouble!" Same old Hermione.

"I couldn't go, I would have done something she'd regret."

"You mean you would do something you'd regret."

"No I don't." Harry meant what he said. Umbridge would have regretted Harry's appearance in detention today.

"Oh Harry, you can't keep getting detention. I know that she isn't teaching anything worthwhile, but it will only get worse if you continue." Harry had considered that already, but Umbridge wouldn't beat him.

"I know Hermione, but people will need to be able to defend themselves. She's going to get people killed."

"I know Harry, and I've thought about it. We need to learn defense and. . ." Harry couldn't believe it. Twice in one day. This could not be happening. ". . . so I thought . . ."

"You want me to teach defense don't you."

"How did you know what I was going to say?" A fair question. Hermione's way was a bit more subtle than Susan and Hannah's. A lot more subtle.

"Susan and Hannah found me outside, they had apparently already decided I would teach them. I was just informed before I came up here."

"Well they are right. You're good at defense, very good. You could probably get an outstanding on the OWL right now." Harry wasn't so sure but he let it pass for now.

"I can't teach."

"Yes you can Harry, I know it." Hermione was adamant.

"She's right mate, you'd be great. Much better than Umbridge anyway." Ron had picked that moment to enter the conversation. His input wasn't the shining endorsement that Harry might have wanted.

"Thanks Ron."

* * *

While several Hogwarts' students were attempting to come up with convince a reluctant Harry Potter, a good distance away a man was trying to find ways to silence a vocal one. Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, was at present looking for ways to increase Dolores Umbridge's power at Hogwarts. Hopefully enough to silence the Potter Brat. Help for his task was coming from an unlikely source, Lucius Malfoy had asked for a meeting. It seemed that he felt that the boy needed to be stopped as well.

"Minister I think that it might be appropriate to look up the older laws on Ministerial Decrees in this case." Cornelius had no idea what kind of decrees he was allowed to make, and as such was eager to hear Malfoy's idea.

"Why would I do that Lucius?"

"If I am correct, and I'm sure that I am, the Minister is allowed to make certain legal decrees so long as he can get a majority vote from the department heads, and he puts any decrees up for a Wizengamot vote within a years time." That was news. A majority of the department heads. That would be difficult, he knew that he was for sure down three before the voting even started. Any decree made with this purpose would definitely be something Weasley, Bones, and Hopkirk were against.

"I'm not sure Lucius, several of the department heads would surely be against anything I tried. I'm not sure I can convince enough of the rest. Bones will surely be against it and she does hold a good bit of power. Weasley holds some influence as well." That was an honest answer, but he and Lucius both knew the response.

"I'm sure that enough of the Heads can be . . . convinced." Fudge knew that convincing those people would require bribery, and knew that it was better that he didn't ask.

"Very well Lucius. I will come up with several decrees to silence Potter. I will leave convincing to you." Lucius nodded and left.

"Weatherby!" Calling out for his new assistant. A real suck-up, Fudge liked him immediately. The boy in question rushed through the door.

"Yes Minister?"

"I want to take a larger interest in the education at Hogwarts. I think Dolores has done a fantastic job so far, and I wish to widen her influence. Hopefully this will further improve the school. Please contact the Prophet and have them send over Rita Skeeter as soon as possible."

"Yes Minister." With that the boy left.

"First, I think a promotion is in order for Dolores. High Inquisitor sounds appropriate." The Minister was talking to himself. It helped him clear his head.

* * *

At the same time that Fudge was contemplating actions well into the future, a person who left the Ministry in a hurry was approaching a figure dressed in black.

"Master." Kneeling before the man known as Lord Voldemort was Lucius Malfoy.

"Yes Lucius?"

"I have spoken to Fudge, and I gave him the idea of using the old laws to silence Potter. Eventually he will have his pet professor take overt action against Potter." Still kneeling the publicly proud man dared not look up, such action was dealt with harshly.

"You have done well Lucius. Do you expect that there will be any problems pushing him to our ends."

"No Master. Fudge is a weak minded fool. It will take minimal effort to get him to cooperate with our plans. At worst it will take a few galleons, at best he will do it without any influence at all." This pleased the Dark Lord. He wished to come out from the shadows, to have the people quiver in fear, but the shadows remained too much of an advantage. For now.

"Very well Lucius. Return to your duties." With that the blond man left. Riddle grinned. Everything was coming along perfectly.

* * *

There was one professor withing Hogwarts which was likely to be one of the first targets. At the beginning of the year it would have been predicted that she would not have been a major target; however, with her recent acquisition of Harry Potter as research partner Septima Vector was now near the front of the line. It was for this reason that a witch dressed in pink was standing in the Arithmancy classroom.

"Ah, Professor Umbridge what can I do for you?" The words were nice but the tone wasn't so cheery.

"I'm sorry, but I heard that you were giving Harry Potter extra lessons."

"You heard incorrectly, he is in fact helping me with a bit of research." The amphibian looked delighted for a few seconds, then looked . . . constipated.

"Hem hem, I would think that given the current situation it would be rather prudent of you to avoid Mr. Potter." A large smile appeared on the defense professor's face. Septima wanted to slap her.

"I don't see how, the boy is doing spectacularly so far. In fact, I believe such talent should be pushed to its limits." Septima's smile was just as big.

"The boy is a liar, such an attitude shouldn't be rewarded. I believe that there are plenty of other students who would be delighted to help you."

"That's funny, I don't believe I can remember him ever telling a lie. I also think that, while there maybe other students who would like to help, I have found the one student who I want to help."

"The boy has lied nearly every time he has spoken in my classroom."

"I do doubt that. I also believe that I have made myself very clear, I want to work with Harry." Vector was getting annoyed now. Frog Lady was pushing her patience.

"Hem hem. I would expect more respect from a professor. You should also remember the Ministry's stance right now. Dissenting opinions are not being rewarded."

"That sounded very much like a threat Professor Umbridge. I'm surprised you would do such a thing. I do know why you are though. Harry Potter scares you." Vector laughed. Harry might not realize it, but the Ministry was deathly afraid of him. Power, charisma, and skill were not something they took lightly. Especially not when that person advocated exactly what they ignored.

"I'm not scared of Potter."

"You are. The Ministry can see what a threat the boy could become. If he wasn't so dangerous you wouldn't spend the first two pages of every Daily Prophet trying to discredit him," Vector spoke with a humorous tone. "If Harry was really unbalanced you would have just announced it, and taken action against him. Instead you try to silence him. It means that you have no case, you just don't like what he says." Umbridge was furious.

"The boy is a liar. He will learn not to defy the Ministry." The voice was a growl.

"I very much doubt that, Dolores."

* * *

AN: Alright I have a test in 9 hours so this is a shorter chapter, but in the interest of getting it out before I leave for the fourth I'm cutting it off here. It is also not proofread. I will try to proofread it sometime this weekend and get a corrected version up. I could come up with some reason why I haven't gotten a new chapter up till now but the truth is I was just being lazy, and doing stuff other than writing. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this one.


	9. Chapter 8

xenocidender does not own Harry Potter, and he would be summarily tossed into the pit of unending despair if he said he did.

* * *

"Harry do you have your . . ." Harry was at this point so used to this greeting that he already had the needle held in his hand as he walked into the Arithmancy classroom. "Good, put it back in your pocket."

For the last week and a half, Harry had been working on both his focus and control in both his sessions with Vector and his classes. He had made good progress with his focus, now having several images for different effects which worked quite well. His control was . . . better. They had moved into the third model. As Vector had stated before each model would be a different size, this one being about the size of his fist. What she had not said, was that they would change material and therefore properties as well. The current model was made up of glass and took very precise manipulation otherwise the glass broke or shattered.

"Before we begin Harry, I hear that you are organizing extra defense practice." Harry's head snapped to Vector's. He had been asked by Hermione several times, and the Hufflepuff twins had informed him several times that they were waiting for him to start, but he had not at this point agreed to it. Therefore it was quite a surprise to Harry that Professor Vector would have heard about it.

"What?! I'm not. . . Er . . . Hermione." Septima was grinning. She hadn't thought that Harry would be the one to organize such a thing. He had always seemed to pick the places that gave him a feeling of anonymity over the ones that put him in the spotlight.

"I had suspected it wasn't your idea. Are you going to do it?" The question got a groan as Harry slumped down into his chair.

"Probably. I mean they need to learn it, but why me?" It seemed that pretty much everything dramatic that happened at Hogwarts in one way or another involved him.

"You don't what is so great about being taught by The Harry Potter?" This earned a very sour look from Harry, one which Vector expected.

"I'm not The Harry Potter, I'm just . . ."

"Harry. I know. Still I do believe the students could learn something from you. Something more than spells. Plus you should always make time to converse with your fans." The professor had accomplished something that happened quite often in that classroom, she had confused Harry. He shook it off in favor of another emotion after that last statement however, annoyance.

"Are we gonna work today, or are you just gonna tease me?" The sarcasm of that statement was evident.

"Why can't we do both?" Harry's head hit the table. Vector was in one of her moods.

The two then began their work. Harry continued to try to manipulate the glass, and it continued to be too fragile. He was beginning to wonder just how long this project might take. After the fourth attempt, each of which had the exact same result, he was stopped by Professor Vector.

"Harry wait a moment." He stopped and gave his attention to the professor. She was pacing back and forth. "We've been on this same problem for two days with no progress Harry. There must be something we need to change. I think that the problem is partially about control, but I honestly don't know what might help. Your focus seems to be fine, and the control over your magical output is also fine. The magical output itself seems to be the problem." Harry mostly understood what she had said. All in all, that was about par for the course when Vector began talking magical theory.

"I'm just outputting the wrong amount?" She turned and nodded slightly before answering.

"Yes, I think so. I think the problem is you are releasing too much magic. This probably won't be a problem when we attempt this on gold, but for now it is holding back our progress. You are releasing it too quickly, I think."

"How do I correct it?"

"I'm not sure Harry. Control over that would probably come in time, but we just don't have that kind of time. I need to think. Let's cut today a bit short and you can go have a decent breakfast for once. If you come up with something tell me." Harry was ushered out toward the door. Before he left, he caught a glimpse of Septima writing a rather large equation on her chalkboard.

He continued down toward breakfast wondering how he was going to control his magical output as well. The list of things he had to keep track of continued to grow.

* * *

Upon arriving at breakfast he found a very odd sight. Everyone was talking in whispers. He wondered exactly what was going on. He didn't think he was the topic since no one had looked at him after he entered the Great Hall. Shaking his head, he approached Ron and Hermione.

"What's going on?" His question pulled the two from their conversation.

"Uh . . . Hi Harry. It seems . . . Well you better just read it yourself." With that Hermione passed him what looked to be a copy of the Daily Prophet. The title read, 'Umbridge made High Inquisitor.' He groaned this could not be good.

* * *

_Umbridge made High Inquisitor_

_By Rita Skeeter_

_Minister Fudge announced yesterday that Dolores Umbridge, Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts, would become the High inquisitor for the school. The Minister stressed in his announcement that Professor Umbridge had radically changed the way Defense was taught at Hogwarts. He also stressed that while he believes that most of the teachers at Hogwarts do a fine job, he believed that there might be ways to improve in each and every field. Fudge was quoted saying, "Hogwarts is and has been the most prestigious magical school in the world, thanks in no small part to its teachers. I would like the school to continue that honor far into the future. Falling Defense grades may just be the first sign of problems and after Dolores' improvements to that subject, I believe she might have insight into improving the rest of the school."_

_What might Madam Umbridge have in store for the school. Reports say that she prefers an approach heavy on theory which provides students the background needed to succeed. Minister Fudge commented, "Dolores favors theory first which enables students to succeed because they understand the lessons being taught."_

_Throughout the Press Conference one thing was made clear, the Ministry believes Hogwarts can be better, and they believe that Dolores Umbridge is the first step in moving the school forward. Former Supreme Mugwump and current Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore could not be reached for comment. In fact, no comment has from and Hogwarts' personnel. Only Madam Umbridge went on record saying, "I'm delighted that the Minister has placed so much faith in me. I do not intend to let him down." A determined statement from the newly appointed High Inquisitor._

_Continued Page 4 Titled High Inquisitor_

* * *

Harry didn't even bother reading the rest of the article, it was probably more of the same, instead he had a more pressing issue.

"What was that?"

"The Ministry is interfering Harry. They wanted Skeeter to give them a propaganda piece so people won't question the power that they gave Umbridge." Hermione obviously answered and as she did so it was in a hushed tone.

"I got that part Hermione, but what is she gonna do?" Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry's reply.

"If you had read the entire article, you would know that she has been given the power to attend all classes and activities. She can even decide whether a teacher is capable or not." Still a hushed tone, though there was also a large hint of spiteful venom.

"She grades the professors now?" Hermione nodded. He thought for a moment about what that could mean to the school. Although another thought quickly came to him. "All classes and activities. So quidditch too. What about my research with Professor Vector?"

"That too Harry. Anything." Harry's head made contact with a flat surface for the second time that day.

The rest of the day passed pretty normally for Harry. Class, lunch, and afterward held nothing special. He did hear that Umbridge took an opportunity to observe a couple of classes for the early years but nothing more than that. Eventually the day found him sitting beside the lake under a tree, a spot that was fast becoming associated with himself.

* * *

Several subjects were on Harry's mind. At the moment he was attempting to avoid the subject of Umbridge as that would only make him angry. Currently he was trying figure out a way to limit his magical output. So far he had not come up with anything.

"Thinking pretty deep there." Harry was startled by the voice. His head turned to find Susan standing next to him, curiously Hannah was not in sight.

"Where's Hannah?" Susan giggled, then she laughed.

"Hannah had problems in Potions yesterday. She has detention with Snape." Susan was still giggling as she answered Harry.

"Oh, so what did you come to find me for?"

"What else would I do? It seemed like a good time to pester you some more." He groaned, not the teaching thing again.

"Not again. Don't you have anything else to talk about?" He was almost pleading right now.

"No not really. Kinda looked like you do though." She inquired about his thoughts when she arrived.

"I was just thinking about how the research is going." Considering Susan and Hannah's previous reactions to the research, Harry wasn't sure he really wanted to talk about that subject either.

"How is that?" Apparently Susan wasn't going to be denied however.

"Not well. Vector says I need to control my magical output better. Whatever that means." Susan didn't look as confused as Harry felt.

"Control it in what way?" At Harry's look she continued, "I take Arithmancy Harry, I've heard Professor Vector lecture several times on this subject."

"Oh, I think I need to release less magic at a time. It's kinda hard to explain. Do you push your magic when you cast?" Harry questioned. Susan nodded. "I used to, but now I can also just release the magic within me so it flows out and she thinks the volume is too much. Some how I need to stop so much from getting out."

"Sounds like you need a valve."

"What?"

"You know on a faucet, a valve controls how much water flows through. Sound like that's what you need. Though I guess you can't really put a valve on yourself, kind of a stupid idea actually." Susan looked away, unhappy with her suggestion. Harry just stared at her for several minutes. Finally the wide-eyed boy replied.

"Susan that's. . . brilliant." Harry stood up quickly and moved away. "Uh, I gotta go. I'll see you later. Thanks a lot Susan." The last part was said as Harry was running away leaving the Bones female in his wake.

"Your welcome Harry, bye." The statement was said under her breath as she watched Harry run away, wondering exactly how her idea was brilliant.

* * *

Harry ran through Hogwarts towards the Arithmancy classroom not stopping to knock at the door to the class room, nor at the door to Septima Vector's private office. As a consequence he burst into her office effectively scaring the wits out of the professor. Septima had been grading assignments, but when Harry flew through the door, paper went flying everywhere. As soon as her heart rate returned to normal she acknowledged Harry's presence.

"So Harry, I take it you have some reason for scaring the daylights out of me." With that said the professor began to pick up paper's off the floor.

"Oh sorry professor," said Harry. He too began to help picking papers off the floor.

When they completed the task, Vector again turned to Harry. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence Harry?"

"You said that I needed to control how much magic I released right." He paused and she nodded. "Earlier you said that interaction with and usage of magic was mostly about a person's will correct." Again she nodded. "And Merlin said his body was like a conduit for magic." Again a nod. "Okay so if I act like a conduit as Merlin did, and focus on putting a valve over my magic, I could control how much was released right. Instead of it being all or nothing like it has been."

Septima thought about it. The theory was valid, but she could see several areas that could cause problems.

"Can you concentrate on everything you need to do Harry? You would need to focus on the valve, on the purpose, and on the focus of the magic all at the same time." Harry thought about it for awhile. She was right that was a lot to concentrate on at one time. Chances are that he couldn't do it right now.

"I don't think so, at least not yet. But if I work at getting this one aspect down by itself eventually it should become instinctual correct?"

"Yes in theory it would, but you would need to release pure magic with no purpose. That could be dangerous unless we had something to gather the released magic." He nodded. "I think I might have an idea of what we can do Harry, but I need a few days to get one. Good thing it's a weekend right?" She smiled. "It is the weekend Harry, go have some fun or something."

After being pushed out of Vector's room for the second time that day Harry decided to make his way back up to Gryffindor Tower. He'd see if Ron felt like flying.

* * *

In the Ministry that day, there were a couple interesting conversations that took place. The first of them took place between an old Auror and an old paranoid Auror. The first was Amelia Bones, though you'd probably get hexed if you called her old to her face, and the second was Alastor Moody, who would probably hex you just because.

"Alastor, still picking the chair nearest cover I see." Amelia commented because the cover in question were several large Spider Plants she had been given. She chuckled a bit at the thought of 'Mad Eye' Moody diving behind her shrubbery.

"Constant Vigilance Amelia." The magical eye was now pointed straight behind him, out her door.

"I doubt Jane appreciates being watched as she sorts the reports for the day."

"She's drinking tea." Well that was a bit surprising.

"Yes, well I can't say I blame her. It has been rather slow around here. I'm impressed at how much less work the Order has given me lately. I take it you had something to do with that." She questioned raising an eyebrow at the grisly wizard.

"Aye, I might have given Dumbledore a few tips on staying out of your way." He had a very large grin on his face. It was as all of Alastor's grins were, nearly feral.

"I appreciate it, and I might actually be able to keep Cornelius from discovering your activities for a good bit of time. Onto the reason I asked for a meeting. First, I want to ask you if and when Voldemort does openly declare his return, will you come back?"

"Not while Fudge is Minister."

"That isn't wholly unexpected. I doubt that in that scenario Fudge would remain Minister very long. I do hope you will consider it when the time comes. I will be short handed for a good bit of time." A stare accompanied the statement and Alastor nodded. "The other reason, I know you can guess."

"Harry Potter."

"Very good Alastor. I find myself at a loss about what to do. I found out from Albus that he is in the care of his godmother. This is surprising as nothing in his file gives any indication that he even has one. I know that you helped Albus do whatever it is that you did. So I find myself wanting to know what you think." Amelia was genuinely curious. Dumbledore had made several good points, but it went against everything she was to leave a child in an unsuitable home.

"I know Dumbledore intends to send him back until his seventeenth birthday. I also agree that as bad as they seem his abandonment at the Dursley's was at the time needed." At that point Moody paused. Amelia was only to ready to interject.

"At the time?"

"Yes, at the time. With the Death Eaters looking for blood after the disappearance of Riddle, the boy would have been nearly impossible to protect." He paused again.

"And now?"

"Now, I'm not sure. Potter is still a student and therefore needs to be protected in some way, but he has also done incredible things. He himself could not beat Riddle right now, but he might not need to be hidden away as he has been in the past." Amelia agreed with that statement.

"The problem is you can't take a chance on might, correct?" Madam Bones questioned her long time colleague.

"That's right."

"Is his godmother capable enough to be considered?" The last question, she knew that Moody would never reveal who the godmother was. He had tried much too hard to protect that knowledge to let it slip now. The answer was not what she expected.

"Yes."

* * *

A fair distance away in the Minister's office a very different conversation was going on. There were several in the company of the Minister, those he considered his closest advisers. Lucius Malfoy was among them.

"Minister, I suggest that we wait and see what Madam Umbridge can report before we take further action."

"Why would we do that Lucius?" Cornelius Fudge wanted Malfoy's reasoning. It would be better if they got the Potter boy out of the picture quickly so he could do no more harm.

"The boy has been unaffected by every attempt to discredit him so far. There is no reason to directly attack him at this point. Trying something that has already repeatedly failed is folly." Murmurs of assent followed these statements.

"Then what should we do? The boy does damage to us."

"He does, but attacking Potter directly is not working. Let Madam Umbridge investigate, she will find something that does affect the brat." That was smart thinking.

"Perhaps you are right Lucius and the best way to get to Potter is not through himself." At that the group was dismissed as Cornelius Fudge was left to think.

Lucius Malfoy immediately went to his master to report on the Minister's activities. He found the Dark Lord sitting upon his throne.

"Lucius, what do you have to report?"

"Master." Lucius bowed. "I have planted the seeds of our plan into the Minister's head. He will eventually instruct Umbridge to target those close to Potter. Potter will undoubtedly make a mistake attempting to protect his friends. The Ministry will step in."

"This is good news Lucius, how long do you believe it will take for the Ministry to step in."

"It will take time because Fudge cannot move against Potter and Dumbledore until there is heavy public support. The sheep will not be swayed from Dumbledore quickly." Tom Riddle hissed. The old fool would be hard to bring down.

"You believe that he will though."

"I do Master. He sees both as a threat, Potter is a much easier target and as such will be the first he goes after. Once Fudge has the support, and he will get it, a mistake by Potter will bring in the Ministry."

"Very well, you are dismissed Lucius." Malfoy bowed to the Dark Lord and left his presence.

* * *

Moving passed the day and into night, there was another meeting going on. Not so important and not so sinister, this was mostly an ordinary meeting of the teachers at Hogwarts along with the Headmaster. Dolores Umbridge was not in attendance.

"Ah delighted you all could make it." Albus Dumbledore began the meeting much as he always did with the grandfatherly twinkle in his eye.

"Good evening Albus, why are we having a meeting tonight?" The question came from Professor Flitwick.

"It has to do with the appointment of Madam Umbridge as Hogwarts High Inquisitor." The first topic of the night would be the most important.

"What about it?" Vector and several others voiced questions.

"I believe that this will only be the beginning. It is also my belief that specific professors will be targeted as well as specific students."

"That's your way of saying anyone who is seen as close to you or Potter." Severus Snape put forth his opinion, and judgment of the situation.

"Yes Severus, that is the gist of what I meant." Dumbledore looked around the room.

"So Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Ms. Granger from the students. Possibly Ms. Abbott. Dolores won't go after Ms. Bones, not with Director Bones as Head of the DMLE. Then myself, Septima, Severus, and you for the teachers." Minerva McGonagall was never one to beat around the bush, and in this case had hit the nail on the head so to speak.

"That is my assessment of the situation, though I believe that she will also go after Rubeus when he returns." That was no surprise as Madam Umbridge's views on so-called 'Half-Breeds' were well known.

"Who will be first?" Pomona Sprout asked her first question of the night.

"I will be." All heads turned to the source of the voice. Professor Septima Vector was unfazed.

"Why do you believe it will be yourself, Septima?" The question came from the Headmaster, but it was on every teacher's mind.

"I am not very powerful politically or magically, I'm muggleborn, and I'm having private research sessions with Harry Potter. I am the logical choice." Everyone nodded at her statements, she was right it was logical.

"Are you ready for that Septima? If she chooses to remove you. . ."

"She'll remove me, eventually it will happen." Vector spoke in monotone, no emotion in her voice or on her face.

"And?" Prompting came from McGonagall.

"And what? I'll be removed, but that won't stop what they want it to stop. My research with Harry Potter has nothing to do with the school other than it takes place here, neither he nor I is being paid for it so I see no reason to worry about it. Even if they don't hire me back, I can easily find other work." Everything she said was true but they were expecting some emotion at some point. It was unusual for Vector to speak in monotone. Even as a scientist she always let off some sign of how she felt.

At that point Albus decided that it was time to move away from the removal of Professor Vector, though she was right. He would have to start looking for some one to replace her in the classroom.

"I do believe we have moved from the purpose of the meeting," stated the Headmaster. Attention was immediately pulled from Vector to Dumbledore. "Septima is right, I believe that she will be the first target of Madam Umbridge. For the time being the rest of us will be under close scrutiny."

"Is there any other purpose for this meeting?" Severus was getting annoyed, he had other things to do. Besides, who wanted to spend time talking about what trouble Potter was causing now.

"As a matter of fact Severus, yes there is. I would like to ask you all about Harry's performances in your classes this year." Snape groaned inside himself. He never understood why this topic invariably came up. The boy was mediocre at best.

* * *

AN: The first thing I want to do is explain a bit about the magical theory for this story because I know it kinda seems like I keep changing things, or things seem like Harry has done one thing and then I say that he has to do it again in a different way. Even if Harry doesn't understand, I want the audience to at this point so I'll explain it now.

First the most obvious thing about this chapter, the valve. The control I mention in this chapter is a different kind of control than in the last one. It is amount verses rate. Consider a faucet. Turn on the faucet full blast for a second then off again. Now turn it on to a slow drip and leave it for an hour or two. The amount of water released might be very much the same, but the way in which the two are released is very different. Releasing magic through a spell is like turning the faucet on full blast for a very short time, the more powerful the spell the longer the faucet is on, but relative to the drip it is always much shorter for the same release of energy. Note: Harry's conduit is very large so pushing magic as many do, does not turn the faucet on full blast.

Second releasing magic verses pushing it. Magic is a very big thing. How far can you push Mt. Everest? You can pick up a small rock and move it but the mountain itself is virtually unchanged. Compare that to what an earthquake or another geologic event might do to the mountain. This comes into play with a person's connection to magic. Simply put, for the purposes of this story if your connection to magic is strong enough you can allow magic to work through you. There is a gradient of course. It isn't a pure line in the sand. Some people such as Harry possess a connection so strong they have the potential to make very large changes. Spells are like picking up a boulder, a large change for the person but still a relatively small change for magic.

First time I've ever had to edit an Author's Note. I realized I did mention rate in the last chapter but only in passing which probably confuses you the audience a bit. Harry's problem of control on the first model was that he was leaving the connection open too long for the rate he was using with a shorter length of time he was able to pass that model, the glass however is much more fragile and needs a slower manipulation to work correctly.


	10. Chapter 9

I do not own Harry Potter or any characters, spells, items, etc. found within. Nor the plot for Order of the Phoenix that is all JKR's. This specific plot(Golden Needle stuff) be mine.

* * *

The weekend progressed without incident and Harry found himself once again headed to Septima Vector's classroom. He idly wondered if Vector had come up with a way for him to implement the 'valve' idea. As he approached, he quickly pulled the needle out of his pocket, knowing the inevitable question from the professor.

"Put it back in your pocket Harry." Upon Harry's entrance to the classroom Vector had skipped the usual question. He wasn't sure if she actually saw the needle or just knew he already had it out. "Well Harry, are you ready to try to limit your magical output?"

"I guess." She rolled her eyes at Harry's answer.

"Very eager aren't you," replied the professor with more than a little sarcasm. "We will be using this to hold your raw magical output." She indicated a large block of metal. Harry was a bit disappointed, he had thought that there might be some ancient magical device that they would be using. Not a block of iron.

"Er, isn't that a block of metal?"

"Yes it is Harry. Don't look so disappointed. It is in fact a very large block of silicon. Tell me do you know why muggle electronics don't work in magically saturated environments?" He thought for awhile. While it was true that Hermione had informed him many times that electronics would not work at Hogwarts she had never told him exactly why.

"No, I mean Hermione has told me that they didn't, but never why." Vector nodded.

"It isn't surprising. It is unlikely that she knows the exact reason in fact. The library doesn't carry that kind of book, nor does Flourish & Blott's. Muggle technology has been looked down upon by the British Wizarding World since Gutenberg invented the printing press. It has to do with the nature of Magic, do you remember what you said Magic was?" He did.

"Energy."

"That's right. Magic at it's most basic is energy. Muggle electronics as you know, work on another kind of energy, electricity. Now the reason that this is so important has to do with the differences in the way certain materials react differently to magic compared to the way they react to electricity. Tell me, have you seen any muggle device work inside a magically saturated area?" He had seen several. Specifically the Weasley's car, he had also seen a couple of very old telephones.

"Yes, a couple." Septima looked pleased.

"Were they complicated devices?"

"No. Mr. Weasley had a car, and I've seen a couple of old telephones." She nodded accepting his answer.

"Do you know why?" He shook his head. "The reason is that any circuitry involved in those devices were insulated not just by material but by distance as well. Magic connects and passes through all things, though not all at the same ease and rate. Furthermore there are very few magical insulators. That means that, if wiring is placed close together as it is in a microchip, a bridge between different parts of circuitry will be created. That will render the circuitry useless." Harry nodded, that was understandable.

"The reason some older pieces of technology work or can be charmed to work is because the circuitry is much larger, and much simpler. There are charms that can redirect magic so it does not create bridges but such things have to be cast on each individual wire or component. Think about it this way, the original Pentium Processor had 3.1 million transistors. Furthermore the chip was made from silicon which while an electrical semiconductor is a magical conductor. Those things combined with the fact that there simply aren't magical electrical engineers or computer scientists leaves us with electrical dead zones." Harry was, quite frankly, a bit confused now. Septima didn't seem to mind.

"What's gold?"

"That is a good question Harry." And that was where she stopped.

"So?"

"Quite simply, we don't know. We can put enchantments on something made of gold, but it does not act the same as an enchantment placed on a magical conductor like iron or silicon. Nor does it act exactly like an enchantment made of a magical insulator. It is possible that it is a semiconductor, but in all honesty we don't know."

"Could that be why Gold is different?" She seemed elated at his question.

"It is entirely possible Harry, in fact I would say that it is probable. The question is why does Gold act as it does in the first place."

It appeared that the conversation was about to continue, but whatever was about to be said was interrupted by the door. It opened revealing short woman who more than vaguely resembled a toad.

"Madam Umbridge, to what do we owe your visit?" Vector questioned the woman.

"As High Inquisitor, I felt it was my duty to observe at least one of your sessions with Mr. Potter, Septima."

"Well you are welcome to, I was just explaining a little theory. If you don't mind we'll get back to it now." Vector turned back to Harry intent on continuing her explanation of the day; however, as with many conversations that took place around Dolores Umbridge, it was interrupted before even beginning.

"That is quite alright. I'm just here to observe and ensure that activities are up to Ministry standards." With that said, the amphibian woman sat herself directly behind Harry. A position he was not overly comfortable with.

"Now Harry, the reason why we are using this big block of metal to pore magic into has to do with the way a conductor functions. Simply put a conductor of heat, electricity, or Magic will . . ." Again an interruption came from the gallery.

"Hem hem." When both Septima and Harry had turned to give Umbridge their attention, the stated woman continued. "Septima do you really think it is correct to compare Magic to a muggle invention?"

"Yes I do Dolores," replied Professor Vector. Turning back to Harry she tried again. "As I was saying, a conductor of heat, electricity, or Magic will spread that energy evenly across it's surface, and if at all possible the energy will leave the object as quickly as possible." At this point she motioned Harry over to the other side of the block where there was a cord connecting the block to the floor of her classroom. "As you can see I have grounded the block to Hogwarts. This block has a lot of surface area which means it will accept a large amount of magic, and hopefully all of that magic will be safely conducted into and dispersed by Hogwarts."

"So I'll be releasing raw magic into the block, which will redirect it to Hogwarts?"

"Yes Harry. . ."

"Hem hem." Again Vector was interrupted. This time her face conveyed the message 'shut up or go away,' sadly Umbridge didn't notice. "I'm sorry. I must have heard wrong, but I thought I heard raw magic mentioned which I know could not be the case."

"I assure you Dolores you did. If you would let us continue." The sickly smile on the High Inquisitor's face didn't change.

"Don't you think that a Ministry researcher would be better suited to test such dangerous magic and in a much more controlled environment. Such a thing is not suited for a school." Septima growled.

"No I don't. The ambient magic of Hogwarts makes it the perfect environment to test within. Because the magical saturation is very high in this school, the dispersal rate of raw magic will be greatly increased. Furthermore the stone structure makes it an ideal location in case any backlash is created because stone is notoriously known for it's durability. Lastly, no a Ministry researcher would not be better suited to replace either me or Harry. I highly doubt there is a Ministry researcher with both Harry's beliefs and his power. I, on the other hand, am widely considered the finest Arithmantic mind in Britain. In other words, I don't ask the Ministry for help, they ask me. Now if you would kindly remain quiet so we can continue." Umbridge did not take the lecture kindly. Harry thought it was hilarious.

"I don't think you are showing me quite the proper respect Septima."

"Respect is earned Dolores. When you have earned my respect, I will give it to you. In the meantime please show myself and Harry some courtesy and allow us to work. I will remind you I have the Headmaster's permission to conduct experiments on Hogwarts' grounds." Vector was fuming mad, the audacity of Umbridge was definitely getting to her.

"Really Septima, it should be obvious that I am trying to do what is in the best interest of all the students. I would think that you would agree with what I am attempting to accomplish." At this point Harry was sure both women had forgotten he was in the room because Professor Vector had stalked up to Umbridge and was currently glaring down at her.

"I don't believe you are Dolores, no do I believe you ever expected me to agree with you. I believe you are intentionally trying to derail any progress the students make. I believe you want the new generation of wizards and witches to be dependent on the Ministry. I believe that you fear what they might become. I believe that you are so deluded and so arrogant that you believe that there will never be a reason for any witch or wizard in this castle to ever know more than fifth year charms. Progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Isn't that what you said at the feast?" Septima Vector was not normally an imposing person, in fact Harry had never seen a situation where he considered her intimidating. He had definitely seen one now. Umbridge had shrunk back a bit while Vector was talking. She was now trying to formulate a reply.

"That is what I said. It is what I believe. We need not change what works." That was Umbridge's reply and she thought it would be the end of the conversation. She was mistaken.

"What works! That is your reply. What works! That is why the Muggles are so far ahead of this complacent society. A Muggle can instantly communicate with almost any other Muggle on Earth inside a building or not. Two way mirrors take multiple upper level charms to create and can only communicate with one other person. The muggles have walked on the moon, no wizard has ever traveled higher than Mt. Everest. Wizards talk of superiority and the greatness of magic. Purebloods say that muggles don't even deserve to live. If that is true why are there five and a half _billion_ of them?" It was quite obvious that this was not the first time Septima Vector had considered Umbridge's point of view.

"They are beneath us. We have . . ." It was the High Inquisitor's turn to be interrupted.

"We have what? Magic? That is all we do have. If magic is so important why does muggle society thrive while magical society festers? It is because muggles have the drive to be better. To go farther, faster, higher. We sit and watch while life passes us by. We don't even push our magical limits. Floo powder was created a hundred and fifty years ago, and it is still considered one of the great _modern_ magical achievements. It hasn't been improved since it was made, and still spits out a person onto the floor if the amount isn't just right for their body mass." Harry had become more and more interested as Vector's lecture continued. He thought that this would be a perfect way to teach History of Magic.

"The Minister will hear of this insubordination Septima." Umbridge apparently had no response to the actual debate, and had to go with her fall back threat. Once again, Dolores Umbridge had been woefully out-gunned in a battle of wits.

"By all means tell him, you can use the fire in my office. Meanwhile I'm going to try to expand the magical knowledge of our culture." That did signal the end of the conversation at least as far as Vector was concerned. She returned to Harry while the toad moved toward the office at the back of the room. Harry watched her go.

"That was bloody brilliant!" He really couldn't contain himself and practically yelled as soon as the office door was shut.

"I must say it did feel good." Professor Vector looked quite satisfied.

"Won't that cause you problems though?" Harry figured it would.

"Harry they would have come after me anyway. If they are going to, it might as well be for a good reason right?"

"I guess. Why would they have come after you though?" Septima raised an eyebrow. "Me?" She nodded.

"The Ministry doesn't like what you and Dumbledore have to say Harry, eventually they will try to get to you through others. Don't worry about me though. I suspect whatever they try won't work out as planned." Septima winked at him.

Umbridge picked that moment to return and inform the two of her conversation with Minister Cornelius Fudge.

"The Minister was quite disappointed to hear about your lack of respect Septima." The smile on Madam Umbridge's face was large enough to shove a hockey puck through. It was a very disturbing image.

"I'm sure he was Dolores, after all he is disappointed to hear any opinion which isn't his." Dolores Umbridge was appalled.

"I will not tolerate such disrespect for the Minister, Septima. I will not tolerate it." The smile was gone, and so was the High Inquisitor's patience.

"Quite frankly Dolores, I don't care. You have succeeded in wasting both my and Harry's entire session today. I unlike you do actually care if my students learn or if they just attend and if you intend to act like you have today, I would ask that you not return." With that said Septima Vector not so subtly pushed the High Inquisitor out the door and slammed it in her face.

Harry was laughing, a lot. He was sure the door caught at least a small part of Umbridge as it closed. He was hoping it was her head. If she had a concussion he might not have DADA today.

"Now Harry as our time is almost up, I will try to finish what I was saying earlier before you have to go. As I was saying earlier the raw magic that you produce will be dispersed by Hogwarts. Should your magic be more potent than the current rig can disperse it will overload the ground cable before the block which will allow us protection because of its location within the very stone of the castle. We will of course take other precautions to protect ourselves just in case. Is there anything else you wish to ask before I send you to your class?" Harry shook his head indicating there wasn't. "Then get going and I will see you tomorrow. Don't have too much fun in defense today Harry"

Septima waved him goodbye and retreated back to her office. Harry walked out the classroom door and began making his way toward History of Magic. He felt that this was the beginning of a wonderful day. He also thought it would be a good time to plan. He had plenty of time until DADA and Umbridge was sure to still be stewing when he got there.

* * *

Upon reaching Binns' classroom Harry took his usual seat between Ron and Hermione. Apparently something had happened between them because they were poignantly avoiding looking at each other. Harry felt it was probably just another day for the two of them and sat down with a large smile on his face. It could be said that Harry Potter was not the most attentive person in History of Magic, in fact Harry could count the number of times he truly paid attention in the class on one hand with fingers to spare. So it would come as no surprise that he was not paying attention on this day. He was reading a book which he had vowed never to open, his defense book. He was also occasionally making notes on a spare piece of parchment.

"Harry mate, what are you doing?" Ron had noticed Harry's behavior as he attempted to stay awake during Binns' monotone lecture.

"I want to be ready for defense today." Ron's jaw dropped. He was frightened. Harry couldn't possibly believe what that book was saying.

"Mate? Are you feeling alright?"

"This has so far been the best day of the year, and I am determined to continue it." Harry was grinning. The grin of a person intending to do great evil.

"Er. . . By reading your defense book?"

"Yep." Ron was really scared now. What good could possibly come from that book?

"I think you've gone barmy mate."

"Possible." That didn't inspire anymore confidence in the red head. As much as it pained him to do, he looked to Hermione for help. She noticed the look.

"Harry? Why do you suddenly want to read the book?"

"So I can use it." She went pale. The book was useless, and for Hermione to think that was something.

"Harry that book has no use." She strained as she said so.

"Nope."

"Then why did you say you were going to use it." Hermione Granger, the cleverest witch of her year, was perplexed. Harry was making no sense at all.

"Because I am," replied the Boy-Who-Lived.

"How?"

"Against Umbridge." Hermione was really scared now.

"Harry you can't, you'll get in more trouble."

"Yes I will."

"You want to get in more trouble?!" Ron inserted himself back into the conversation. Harry was starting to scare him because this was going to affect Quidditch.

The rest of class continued much the same for Harry. Ron and Hermione continued to try to stop him from whatever he was going to do, and he continued to deny their requests. By the time class got over, a good portion of the students around the trio were anxious for whatever Harry was going to do in Defense.

* * *

First however, Harry had to make it through Potions. Unfortunately for him there was one thing Severus Snape never wanted to see in his classroom and that one thing was a smiling Potter. When Harry walked in with a smile that looked like the cat that ate the canary, Professor Snape fumed. After writing the instructions on the board and instructing the class to begin he watch Potter happily begin to brew. Unfortunately, the brat had not made any mistakes yet, so he left for Longbottom who inevitably had.

Harry was feeling very good at the moment, despite being in Potions. His happiness couldn't even be diminished when he spotted Snape headed toward him after yelling at Neville.

"Potter! What are you doing?" This was the standard greeting for Harry and he would reply with his usual and lose the normal ten points.

"Brewing the potion, sir." In actuality Harry might have gotten away with just a five point loss for this reply but he knew that the smile on his face would not be taken lightly.

"10 points for your cheek Potter. I would remind you to show proper respect in class."

"Sorry sir." Now that was a big surprise. Harry Potter did not apologize to Severus Snape. It was just not done. At least it was not done with a smile. True there had been growled apologies, and apologies that reeked of sarcasm but those did not count.

"Potter! Get back to the potion! And five points from Gryffindor!" The reason was not stated they both knew why.

Harry still smiled.

* * *

Eventually, enough time passed and it was time for Defense. The class began as any other Umbridge class did with the usual greeting. Harry of course had never taken part in the beginning of class, and he did not take part today either. Then it came time for the beginning of lessons.

"Now class, yesterday we were learning about the diffusing situations without resorting to violence. As shown, each and every situation could be resolved through talking instead of fighting. . ." That was as far as she got. Harry had decided to interject early and often.

"Prove it."

"What was that Mr. Potter?" Umbridge was still mad about the research session and Harry was not helping. Her face was red and he doubted she was embarrassed.

"I disagree. I don't think everything can be solved with words. I would like you to prove that it can."

"Who are you to disagree, Mr. Potter?" That was exactly what Harry had wanted.

"Last time I checked I was Harry Potter. I think I've had a few experiences with confrontation and I don't think talking would have helped in any of them. Definitely wouldn't have worked with Quirrell since we did talk and he still attacked me. Somehow I doubt the Basilisk would have been too eager to listen to my point of view. I also really doubt Voldemort would have listened to me last year either." Harry left out third year with Sirius, he really didn't want to bring that up.

"You shouldn't lie Mr. Potter. I would also love to prove it to you, but I'm afraid we don't have any confrontations in this class." She was smiling.

"I think the class would agree that there we've had our fair share of confrontations. So why don't we use that. I'll play the attacker and you can diffuse the situation by talking me out of cursing you." Harry's smile was very large at this point. Either Umbridge would have to back down, or he would get to hex her.

"I don't think it would be an appropriate exercise Mr. Potter." The High Inquisitor looked a bit nervous at his suggestion.

"Why not? You've just said that any situation can be resolved through talking. If that is true then there is no reason not to have a practical demonstration." Harry was nearly bouncing out of his seat at this point. The rest of the class looked eager too.

"Fine Mr. Potter we will have a practical demonstration of this principle." He was instantly out of his seat and down to the front of the room. His wand was out and ready.

"Alright we will begin in a few moments Mr. Potter, and I would remind. . ." The toad was interrupted again.

"I would ask that as long as I do not use any illegal spells there can be no consequences for myself. After all if this was a real world scenario you would not hold any authority over me. We would simply be two magical citizens." His grin got even bigger if that was even possible. Umbridge on the other hand got even paler. She was expecting to be able to use her authority. Now she had two choices, either face Harry Potter by his rules or back down and admit that he was right. That was a very difficult choice. In the end, she decided not to admit he was right. After all, if he tried anything to bad she could still get him expelled. Actually she could probably get him expelled anyway.

"Very well Mr. Potter. So long as you use no illegal spells there will be no consequences, but . . ." Again an interruption came.

"I want it in writing." Harry said it without emotion.

"I just said that there wouldn't be, Mr. Potter."

"I don't trust you to hold to your word. I want it in writing." Now Dolores Umbridge was not only a minute or two from being cursed by the best Defense student in the school, she was also defending her honor as well.

"I thank you not to question my word." She quickly wrote down the words on parchment anyway. After handing it to Harry, he signed it as well. He then had Hermione make several duplicates which were spread throughout the class. Susan and Hannah each got one. Hannah was thinking of framing hers.

"I think I'm ready now Professor Umbridge. Whenever you would like to begin." Dolores Umbridge had already decided that this was a loss and that she would just tell Cornelius and get Potter in trouble and hopefully expelled despite what she had written, so there was only minor hesitation before she continued.

"Begin." She waited. And she waited. Still no spells came at her.

"I'm going to hex you, aren't you going to try to talk me out of it?" Harry was waiting. His plan had worked perfectly so far and he hoped it would continue.

"I don't think you want to hex me, Mr. Potter." Umbridge's voice made everyone cringe at its attempted sweetness.

"No, I definitely want to curse you. You've been calling me a liar since I met you."

"You were lying."

"Madam Umbridge, I don't believe you are helping your case at the moment." Harry took a step forward.

"You were, and you won't curse me because I'm a representative of the Ministry."

"You agreed that for the entirety of this demonstration we're just people, and I'm still going to hex you." Another step forward.

"I don't believe you are Mr. Potter, you would have already done so. You're afraid." Umbridge looked triumphant now. She knew he wouldn't do it.

"I assure you I'm not. You see I don't like you. I think you're going to get people killed. I also think you're weak." Umbridge wasn't scared anymore and she drew her wand.

"I thought anything could be solved without violence Madam Umbridge. If that is true, why are you drawing your wand? Are you going to hex me? You'd like to. Every time you said Voldemort wasn't back, I said he was." The witch began to get red. "Every time you said something about defense, I said something else. I've been a disruption in your class since the very beginning."

"You have. You'll learn not to mess with authority Potter." The class began to see something. Umbridge was mad. Harry took another step and another, but this time it wasn't forward. This time it was around. He began to circle the professor.

"I won't change. Every time you say Voldemort isn't back, I'll say he is. Every time you talk about the Ministry, I'll talk about their incompetence. Every time you try to silence me, I'll yell louder." Umbridge was shaking in anger.

"You will be silenced Potter, one way or another."

"By who? You? I doubt you can even cast the simplest of hexes. You don't have the talent or the power to silence me." That was the last straw.

"Diffindo!" The Severing Charm. The thing that surprised the class most was not that Harry had goaded Umbridge into casting the first spell, that had been evident about halfway through, the surprising thing was she used such a weak spell.

"Protego! Expelliarmus! Stupefy!" Harry blocked the severing charm and quickly disarmed and knocked out the professor. With a quick bit of spell work Umbridge was hanging from the rafters. A scary sight in itself which was made worse by the fact that she now had hair that roughly resembled Snape's and her skin was green. After making quick work of the professor Harry turned to the class.

"Now class I expect you to study this confrontation and learn from it. Remember not all confrontations can be solved by talking it out. Also, I would like you to remember that no amount of skill can make up for your opponent being stupid. Class dismissed." With his speech made and his point aptly proven, Harry made his way out of the classroom to resounding applause. He still had Umbridge's wand until he threw it out a window anyway.

Hermione and Ron were speechless. Ron because he had just seen something that he believed topped 'Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing Ferret' and Hermoine because things like what Harry just did . . . just weren't done.

* * *

AN: Can you believe it's only the third week of school? Gonna be an eventful year. As to why Harry is so . . . un-Harry-like. First I changed Harry's personality a bit to be a cross between his and mine, second he had two double periods, lunch, and Divination which translates to about five hours to come up with a plan to set Umbridge who was already really mad over the edge.

Also there aren't any consequences for Harry(of course there will be) this chapter because by the schedule I have written down defense is the last class for a Monday. Umbridge won't be found for at least a few hours.

The chapter itself wasn't originally completely a Harry chapter like it turned out. I thought that putting in two extra sections centered on other people would detract from the purpose of this chapter. Hope I wasn't wrong.


	11. Chapter 10

I don't own Harry Potter or any events, characters, etc. portrayed therein.

* * *

After the events of the previous day, it could easily be said that Harry Potter was in a good mood. He knew without a doubt that there would be consequences for his actions the previous day, but he felt that any consequences would be fairly minor. As he walked to Professor Vector's classroom that morning he considered what would happen. He guessed that he would probably receive detentions much quicker and much more often that previously. Still, he walked into the Arithmancy classroom with a large smile on his face.

"Good Morning Harry, do you have your needle?" Harry did if only out of habit, and pulled it out to be rewarded with the usual reply. "Good, put it back in your pocket." Vector walked around and looked at Harry's smile. She felt that a smile such as the one Harry was wearing could not possibly be a good thing, and that it was better that she didn't ask.

"Alright Harry, we will be continuing what we attempted to begin yesterday. If you remember, we were attempting to begin releasing raw magic into our big block of metal. As you know we will need to test your idea of a valve and see if it will work for our application. I want you to use that idea and open the valve as little as you can. I will be monitoring your magical output and the magic levels in the block for both safety and testing reasons." Harry nodded and began. He found the magic within and released as small a portion that he could in the direction of the block. A stream of white plasma flew to the silicon cube. Harry let the magic flow for thirty seconds before he cut it off.

"Very good Harry." Septima said no more but looked excited.

"Did it work?"

"Yes it did. You were able to reduce your magical output by half and on the first try, I'm impressed. Are you ready to try again?" Harry was having barely felt the drain when compared to the usual exercise he got in these sessions. He tried again, and again. For half an hour, Harry released raw unfocused magic into the block. Vector became increasingly happy each time. After just half an hour Harry had been able to limit three quarters of his output.

"Harry Potter!" A new voice, one which Harry had heard before, Fudge's voice. The research sessions with Vector had been interrupted for the second day in a row, this time by three persons. Two of the group Harry recognized. Cornelius Fudge, Dolores Umbridge, and another unrecognized wizard were standing at the door to the Arithmancy room looking rather angry. Dolores was still green, but the hair was gone. Harry suspected she cut it off, or was wearing a wig.

"Is there some reason for this interruption?" The reply had come from Professor Vector, who was looking rather annoyed at the entrance of the group.

"Yes, Harry James Potter?" The third of the group had replied this time and turned to Harry. The student nodded in response. "You are under arrest for the Magical Assault of Dolores Umbridge. Relinquish your wand and follow us." Vector was the first to reply due to Harry's shock.

"Don't give up your wand Harry, they can't legally take it without producing the paperwork. Until they do, do not give it up." Vector was now dead serious. Harry was still in shock and although he heard what Vector said, something else was on his mind first.

"We had an agreement. There would be no consequences so long as I used legal spells, nothing I did was illegal. I have it in writing." Harry produced the parchment he was carrying, which he had decided to show Vector. Minister Fudge took the parchment from Harry and promptly tore it up without even glancing at what it said. The pieces were thrown to the floor.

"That means nothing, you are still under arrest. Dawlish take him." At the pronouncement the third man stepped forward and beckoned Harry to move. Seeing no other choice, he did. With that the group moved out of Vector's classroom and headed for the front gates. Septima Vector eyed the torn parchment on the floor and smiled.

* * *

The group continued down the halls attracting more than a little attention. Muffled voices were heard from either side. The approach of a duo of students marked the first good thing in Harry's view since he had seen the trio come to arrest him. Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott practically ran to Harry, intent on finding out what was going on.

"Harry what's happening?" Susan as usual was the first to speak.

"I'm being arrested."

"ARRESTED!" The simultaneous screams of the girls attracted any attention the group had not had beforehand. Harry groaned. He was stopped from replying by the Minister.

"Step aside girls, we need to get this criminal removed from the grounds." Cornelius Fudge was looking nervous at all the attention. Harry wondered exactly why though. Never-the-less the group pressed through and continued passed the girls. Susan hesitated for a moment and then left at top speed in the direction of the Hufflepuff dormitories, leaving Hannah gawking at the disappearing Boy-Who-Lived.

She was soon nearly trampled by several people of much higher renown. Word had gotten to the Headmaster of Harry Potter's arrest and he and Professor McGonagall were moving as quickly as possible to intercept the Ministry group before they left Hogwarts. Unfortunately they arrived just in time to see Harry disappear at the front gates. Dolores Umbridge was the only one of the Ministry's agents still at Hogwarts and she looked delighted at the turn of events.

The arrival at the Ministry proceeded normally, at least the portkey arrival for Harry was normal. After picking himself off the ground he was happy to see that Fudge had fallen as well. The Minister stood up and dusted himself off. Harry was then led down the main hallway of the Ministry, toward a detention cell he assumed. Fate must have had other ideas, because while headed down the third hallway they had come to, they were intercepted by an irate looking Amelia Bones.

"FUDGE!" Harry saw the Minister wince and smiled. There was something about this arrest which wasn't on the level, and Fudge knew it.

"Ah, Amelia what can I do for you on this fine day?" The Minister of Magic was obviously trying to avoid being the subject of Amelia's wrath.

"Cornelius. A funny thing happened today. I was in my office and received a message from my niece Susan saying that Harry Potter had been arrested. Now I thought she must have been mistake since I, as Head of Magical Law Enforcement, must approve all governmental arrest warrants and no such warrant had come through my office. Yet, I see Harry here being escorted by yourself and one of my own Aurors. I wonder why that is." She waited. Fudge fidgeted.

"Er. Potter here assaulted a Ministry official and I was merely insuring that he was arrested as he should be. I'm sure the appropriate paperwork is being sent to your office. The message must be delayed somewhere, that's all." Amelia didn't look the least bit convinced. She turned to Harry to address him.

"Harry, is that true?"

"No ma'am. It was a demonstration for class. I even had Umbridge sign a piece of parchment saying that there would be no consequences so long as I used no illegal spells." Amelia, if possible, looked angrier than before.

"Where is this piece of parchment?"

"Minister Fudge tore it up when I tried to explain before they arrested me." The Head of the DMLE made a distinct growling noise.

"Fudge if I find you deliberately destroyed evidence. . ." Amelia trailed off and then continued with another line of thought. "I will take Harry into my custody for the time being."

"I'm sorry Amelia, but we can't do that. An emergency session of the Wizengamot is being called to clear this matter up as quickly as possible." Madam Bones spun on the Minister and advanced menacingly.

"Fudge, you know as well as I do that no trial for any major crime can be executed less than three days after the occurrence. Evidence must be gathered and the defendant has his or her right to legal counsel. I'm sure as Minister you are not trying to circumvent justice, because that would be stepping far beyond your bounds." Cornelius looked nervous. He obviously was hoping that Amelia would not get involved.

"Yes of course Amelia. You are right, we'll have a trial on Friday."

"I think we'll have a trial on Saturday," Bones replied. Her expression made it very clear to the Minister that he was not to argue that point. "In addition, Harry Potter will be released into my custody pending trial. Due to the seriousness of the charge he will not go back to Hogwarts, but because there is no legal arrest warrant he will be released from direct Ministry care. Auror Dawlish, I will deal with you later. Do not go home." Madam Bones quickly turned around and walked away while motioning Harry to follow. "Come along Harry."

"Yes Madam Bones." Harry quickly followed. He was feeling very relieved after the encounter, but he was disappointed he wouldn't be able to go back to Hogwarts until after the trial.

He followed Amelia to the elevators and down to her office. Along the way he was conscious of staring and whispering all around. It was apparent that the vast majority of Ministry personnel thought seeing the Boy-Who-Lived was a big occurrence.

* * *

The two arrived in Director Bones' office and Harry was asked to sit.

"Well haven't you been busy Harry?" Amelia was grinning.

"Er. . . yes ma'am." Amelia chuckled at Harry's nervous attitude.

"Relax Harry, you aren't in too much trouble. Susan gave me a quick rundown of what happened and I have to say that it is highly unlikely that you will be convicted. However, I fear that is the only good news I have to give you." She wasn't grinning anymore, the room felt instantly cooler.

"There is bad news too?" Harry felt pretty good hearing that he wouldn't go to Azkaban and wondered exactly what the bad news was.

"Unfortunately yes Harry. You are no doubt aware of the way the Daily Prophet has been dragging your name through the mud lately." She paused waiting for a reply. He nodded in the affirmative. "Didn't you ever wonder how they got away with printing such things about you?" Harry wasn't used to all kinds of rumors talking about him and so in all honesty, he really hadn't given it much thought. He shrugged. Amelia laughed. "Harry the Prophet can't just say anything about anybody. They are regulated just as any news agency is. In any case have you noticed that they have never outright said your name, it is always hidden by references to the Boy-Who-Lived or to your scar." Now that was something that Harry had seen.

"I noticed that. I wondered why they didn't just say I was liar."

"It's because if they had printed false statements about you using your name it would be considered libel and you could sue for defamation of character. In the muggle world you would be able to sue right now anyway because the Boy-Who-Lived is a kind of alias which directly relates back to your character. Unfortunately the Wizarding World has not seen to advance law to that point yet." She paused wondering where to go from there.

"So they can just write anything about me so long as they don't use my name specifically?" That just wasn't right. If they couldn't use his name, they shouldn't be able to use anything referring to him.

"I regret that the answer to that question is yes Harry. It gets worse too. Now that you have been accused of assaulting a Ministry official they will be able to use this case to directly defame your character. Where they could only previously indirectly refer to you and accuse the Boy-Who-Lived of being imbalanced, now they will be able to embellish this case and use it to directly attack the character of Harry Potter." Amelia looked apologetic, as if it was her fault that the Prophet was going to be worse than before.

"Great." Harry sighed. He supposed that if he could deal with all of the people alternatively loving then hating him, he could deal with the Prophet saying he was insane. He wished that people would decide whether the were with him or against him though.

"I suppose that you are wondering why you can't go back to Hogwarts Harry." The statement brought Harry from his reverie and he considered it. He had of course been a bit disappointed, but he hadn't really thought that Amelia had lied about why he was in her custody.

"I . . . was disappointed I couldn't go back, but you said. . ." He was cut off before he could continue.

"I thought you might, although I didn't think you would believe my reason for taking you into my custody. Anyway the reason is simple Harry, I didn't want you back at Hogwarts until after the trial." Harry was astonished, why wouldn't she want him at Hogwarts?

"Why don't you want me there?"

"Several reasons actually. What would you do if you were at Hogwarts? Would you continue fairly normally or would you prepare to defend yourself in court?" He would probably carry on as usual. Seeing his look Amelia continued, "That is why I wanted you with me Harry. Why do you think the Prophet is attacking you so badly? You haven't really been to vocal about the return of Voldemort, at least compared to Albus."

"I don't know, I figured it was because I was the one who saw him return." Madam Bones tilted her head to the side to look at the boy.

"Well that is part of the reason, but the real reason is because you are an easy target Harry." Harry was confused a bit on that one.

"An easy target?"

"Yes Harry. Albus has hidden you away during the summer and you can't really talk to reporters at Hogwarts. It is much easier to attack someone politically, when that person has no opportunity to defend themselves."

"I understand. They can come after me much easier than they can after Dumbledore." Amelia nodded.

"We will talk more of this later. In the meantime you have work to do." There was a decidedly maniacal gleam in Amelia's eyes. Harry was a bit frightened at what the Director might have in store for him.

"Work?" Harry questioned lightly.

"You didn't think you were going to get a whole week off from school did you Harry?" Harry had in fact thought that exact thought not long before. "You did? Well I'm sorry to disappoint, but I do believe I can find something much more rewarding for you." That she pressed a button and called in her secretary. "Jane send Robards into my office please." Jane quickly replied that she would, and Amelia turned back to Harry.

"I think I'll have you work with an Auror during the day, and then after we leave the Ministry, we can work on your case together. Don't worry about underage magic around her. So much is going on that they can't tell who does what." Not long after Amelia completed her statement a tall man about forty years of age entered the Director's office. "Ah, Harry this is Senior Auror Gawain Robards, he has been an Auror for more than twenty years and is currently the next in line for the Head Auror position. I'm going to have him work with you this week."

"An honor Mr. Potter." The man spoke with a deep voice and a smile on his face. This was obviously not one of Fudge's stooges.

"Er. . . call me Harry please. It's an honor to meet you sir." Robards laughed a bit in reply and turned back to Madam Bones.

"Amelia, you weren't kidding when you described him." He was still chuckling a bit when he turned back to Harry. "Call me Wayne, Harry. Everybody else does, except Amelia when she's angry." He winced a bit in thought of the names Amelia had come up with over the years. Madam Bones just sat at her desk with a smug grin.

"Okay . . . Wayne, sir." Again laughing. Harry felt like jumping out a window. It was really too bad the Ministry was underground.

"Don't worry about it Harry, come on we'll go have a bit of fun at the practice range." He motioned for Harry to stand up and follow him and they headed out of Amelia's office. Amelia decided for the sake of her budget she had better give a parting shot.

"Robards! You better not cause as much damage as you did last time you had _fun_." When all she heard in reply was more laughing, she thought it would be good to have Jane bring in a few equipment replacement forms.

After asking that the appropriate forms be brought in, Amelia Bones got to work. She had an investigation to run, and she would not let Cornelius Fudge railroad Harry Potter.

* * *

Meanwhile, Harry was following Auror Robards to the 'Practice Range' and he was wondering exactly what he would be doing for five days. Upon arriving, Harry was amazed. The room was incredibly large with several dueling platforms, a couple enclosed arenas and what looked like a shooting gallery.

"This is where we Aurors practice Harry. You can see the dueling platforms and arenas, but first we'll have a bit of fun at the range." He motioned Harry over to a stall. "Alright Harry here is where we practice spells. Each of these buttons," Wayne motioned to the side of the stall which had several labeled buttons, "will bring out a separate kind of target. There are several kinds. The one's we'll work with will be accuracy, power, and destruction." Harry thought he might have made up that one.

"Destruction?" Wayne grinned.

"Yep, being an Auror can be rather stressful and sometimes it just feels good to blow things up." With that he pressed a button and a large chunk of stone appeared at the end of the range. "Go ahead and give it a good solid Reducto Harry." Wayne stepped back to watch the show.

"Reducto!" The rock was smashed to pieces. Harry decided that Wayne was right, it did feel good to blow that up.

"I thought you might see the fun in this Harry. Why don't we try some of the others."

* * *

A good distance away from the Ministry the most feared wizard in Britain was just receiving some pleasant news.

"Master, Harry Potter has been arrested." The voice came from an obviously out of breath Lucius Malfoy. The Dark Lord wasn't pleased. His plans weren't set yet. He couldn't move in against Potter yet without revealing himself.

"The Ministry is moving against Potter already?"

"I do not believe so Master. That was the original idea. Fudge was going to try to get a quick conviction of Potter and have him sent to Azkaban, but Amelia Bones interrupted their journey." Lucius was kneeling at Voldemort's feet now.

"What do they intend to do now?"

"They are in the process of deciding now. I excused myself without giving an opinion. I wished to know what you wanted me to do now?" Voldemort grinned. Lucius had become quite the servant after he was punished for delay in the resurrection.

"What do you believe they will do, Lucius?"

"I believe that they will fail to get a conviction. Fudge said that Amelia Bones had taken over the investigation personally. I think that Fudge will instead use the trial to further disgrace the Potter brat in the eyes of the public."

"While it would be convenient for Potter to go to Azkaban, I believe you are right and he will not be convicted. I do; however, see many advantages of Potter going further into public disgrace. Return to Fudge and put forth your opinion that they should use this as an opportunity to make both Potter and Dumbledore look like fools. Pay special attention to who backs Potter, they may become useful in the future."

"Yes Master, I will." Lucius quickly left to return to the Minister's office.

* * *

At Hogwarts an angry and still green Dolores Umbridge was in her office an was about to be joined by the Head of the DMLE. She had already heard from Cornelius that Amelia had intercepted Potter and taken custody pending trial on Saturday. That intervention had quickly killed their previous plans. Amelia had then informed her that she would be at Hogwarts momentarily to investigate the case personally.

"Dolores what are you and Cornelius trying to do now?" The tone that Amelia's voice held conveyed a great bit of anger.

"We are trying to convict a criminal, Amelia."

"And what exactly was his criminal offense?" Umbridge was frightened. Amelia Bones was not a good witch to cross.

"He attacked me Amelia."

"That isn't the story he told. Nor is it the story Susan told. In fact no one any of my Aurors have questioned so far has said that he attacked you. Everyone has in fact said it was you who threw the first spell, and that it was a class demonstration. Now why would everyone have a different recollection of events than you?" Amelia was grinning, a truly feral expression.

"I don't know Amelia. I was knocked unconscious and hung from the rafters."

"So I heard, yet according to the witnesses Harry fired three spells all legal during a class demonstration where you had agreed in writing that there would be no consequences should Mr. Potter refrain from using illegal spells. Now from my investigation so far, I would say that you are lying, have no honor, and are an ignorant little worm." Umbridge took that as well as can be expected. That being not well at all.

"Director Bones, I would be careful who you insult. The Minister will hear of this and he will not be pleased."

"I don't care. Fudge does not have the power to remove me." The conversation was over. Amelia turned to leave.

As Amelia Bones walked out of Umbridge's office and down to the gates of Hogwarts, she was stopped by a famous face. Albus Dumbledore apparently wanted to converse.

"Albus, what can I do for you?" She was not in the mood to verbally dance with the Headmaster so direct was the only way the conversation would take place.

"Amelia, I heard that you have taken custody of Harry Potter for the time being." He paused.

"That is true Headmaster."

"I would ask that you return him to Hogwarts. He isn't safe outside these walls and I can deliver him to the trial myself if need be." The safety card was played. Amelia wasn't sure exactly why Dumbledore would play that card, after all Harry had been in more dangerous situations at Hogwarts than in any other location.

"No, he is with Robards at the moment and any other time he will be with me. Both of us keep more than one emergency portkey on our persons at all times. Harry is perfectly safe for the time being." She turned to continue down the walk, but was held back.

"I would ask that you reconsider." Amelia made a show of thinking for several moments.

"Still no." With that the Head of the DMLE left Hogwarts to return to the Ministry and check up on Harry.

* * *

Upon arriving back at the Ministry, Amelia immediately headed down to the training center to check on the damage Robards and Potter had managed to cause. She was presently surprised when she found the door still intact upon reaching it. That had not survived the last time Robards had fun. Upon entering the training center she sighed in relief, there was no obvious damage to any expensive equipment and the structure appeared to be sound. She idly wondered parts of the room seemed to be polka-dotted. That was when she got hit.

Reaching down and wiping her hand through the blue paint on her stomach, she did the only thing that seemed logical.

"ROBARDS!"

"Time out!" Upon the declaration, a couple dozen Aurors came out from behind various pieces of equipment and shielding. Some of them also had paint on various extremities. From off to the side came several other Aurors which had paint on their heads and on their chests. What exactly was going on here. From her right came Harry and Wayne, neither seemed to have any paint on them at all. They appeared to be in a very select group of only a half dozen.

"Senior Auror Robards, I want an explanation and I better have it in the next two minutes or I swear you'll be chasing dark wizards in Siberia." Wayne winced.

"Amelia so nice of you to join us. We were having a combat simulation for Harry." He grinned, trying to act innocent. Madam Bones didn't buy it.

"If it is a combat simulation, why do I have paint on myself?"

"Ah, that was Harry's idea," replied Auror Robards. The Boy-Who-Lived now had a betrayed expression on his face that promised retribution. He decided to speak up in his own defense.

"My idea? I just said that your suggestion _sounded_ like paintball, it was your idea to actually play it. Your the one who had Jane find a spell that sent paint flying." Now Wayne was the one who looked betrayed, and Harry was the one that looked smug.

"You're playing? I send Harry with you to train, and you play a game."

"Ah, Amelia it is training. Training on how not to get hit, and as you can see Harry is very good at it." Amelia was not amused . . . very much. In truth the murmurs of "Got that right." and "Bloody kid." did bring a small smile to her face which she quickly fought off. She glared.

"How long exactly have you been doing this?" They all shrugged. Many of the other Aurors pointed at either Harry or Wayne. "Don't all speak at once." Wayne decided to take initiative.

"We started with a bit of target practice, then Harry and I did some dueling. After that we did some team dueling, and after that we started our combat simulations." Wayne grinned.

"Who won?" She was actually interested in this question.

"Kingsley's team won twice and we've won twice. This time was the tie breaker." For the first time Amelia noticed Kingsley Shacklebolt off the to the left. He seemed to be one of the select group not hit anywhere yet.

"Kingsley, what is your opinion of the combat simulation?"

"It works Director. Dodging the paint is more than difficult." Amelia rolled her eyes.

"Honest opinion Kingsley."

"Fun ma'am." For the first time Amelia grinned.

"Very well. You all will restart this simulation. I will be observing from above. Anyone who I see getting taken down by Harry will be running laps tomorrow." This proclamation brought more than a couple groans from the group. Apparently Harry was good at more than just dodging. After leaving as several cleaning spells were uttered, Amelia proceeded to the observation deck above the training center.

* * *

Amelia watched as the groups got into starting positions. The groups started at opposite ends of the room with plenty of cover in between to stop any quick outs from occurring. The horn sounded and both began to move. Amelia quickly focused on Harry. He was running straight left towards the shooting gallery. It was easy to see why he was hard to hit. Several times he jumped completely over obstacles without losing a bit of speed. Reaching the edge of the range Harry dove over the barrier and landed in a roll.

Across the room, Kingsley's team was getting into position. It looked like they had adopted a strategy of wait and let Robards' team come. The opposing strategy was quite different. Robards had sent several quickly to the right while Harry ran to the left. He was taking advantage of his team's increased mobility over Kingsley's. Those left in the center were moving from cover to cover. Laying down a bit of cover fire before running to the next bit of safety.

Harry was now up and moving again. He ran out the side of the range, and while several balls of paint went in his direction none were really close. He was moving too quickly and at too great a range to be hit. He ducked behind a set of weights and began to survey the room for the first time. Kingsley's team was by now fairly intensely engaged with the main unit of Robards' team. Neither team could poke their heads up for more than a couple seconds. That meant that shots were coming at most three or four at a time.

Harry proceeded down the side of the room firing several shots as he went. Enough so that they couldn't take potshots at him, but not enough that he became a primary target. Soon enough he was level with Kingsley's team. He waited for the other flanking group to get in position. By the time they were in position Harry had not fired a shot for about two minutes. All at once the right flankers let loose as many shots as they could and Kingsley's team was distracted. Harry was on the move. To quick runs from cover to cover and he was now behind the barriers that his opposition was using. Harry let loose.

Quickly firing three shots which all found their marks, and Harry was on the move again. He fired shot after shot over shoulder, but he had a problem. He had effectively drawn their attention away from the main attacking force, but now he had to get away before he was taken out. Quickly diving behind the nearest cover, he waited for a bit of cover fire from his team.

The cover fire didn't come. He looked quickly out and saw the approach of several Aurors. This would not be good. A couple quick shots cause the Aurors to take cover for a moment, but it only gave him a couple seconds. He ran. Kingsley's team had set themselves up about a quarter of the way through the room which meant that there was very little cover behind. Most of the makeshift barriers had been put near the center of the room. Harry sprinted toward the dueling platforms which were the closest cover where he make any kind of stand.

Neither team was stationary at this point. Amelia was impressed at how both had done so far. Robards' team was slightly ahead in hits thanks to Harry's shots from behind, but both teams were consistently hitting targets anytime they got an open shot. Kingsley had shifted his focus from Harry back to the main mass of enemies. His team was going to be over run if they didn't move. A couple quick shouts and the whole team moved as one.

Harry had managed to make it to the dueling platforms just in time to see Kingsley make his move. Harry cursed. Robards' had split his team which meant that the main group was weaker. Kingsley was taking advantage of this and move directly at Robards. He quickly thought how he could distract Kingsley's team long enough. He only saw one option, and he didn't like it. Sighing he took off again. This time he headed straight for the middle of Kingsley's team. He was behind them so he didn't bother with using cover, just speed. He fired shot after shot at any piece of opposition he saw. When he reached the back end of Kingsley's forces he dove. He had effectively just jumped into the snakes nest. Harry fired.

A ball of paint when over Kingsley's left shoulder and he turned in surprise. Harry Potter was crouched in the middle of his forces letting loose on everyone. Kingsley decided, not for the first time, that if they ever did this again he was calling Potter. He took aim at the same time Harry did and both were quickly covered in paint.

"Well done Potter!" That was Wayne who had watched the crazy kid run into the middle of everybody.

"Wayne next time I get Potter!" Kingsley decided to weigh-in before anyone else had a chance.

"Not a chance Shacklebolt!"

* * *

AN: Ah, Aurors playing paintball come on who wouldn't love to see that? This chapter didn't actually exist in my original plan because I cut the other chapter short. Anyway I hope people enjoyed this one.

I don't want to make my actual Author's Note to long because of the high number of reviews for the last one. Thanks guys BTW. Also I really don't remember what I had planned to write about this chapter so without further stalling.


	12. Chapter 11

I never have owned Harry Potter and someone who has heard of JKR told me I never would.

* * *

Amelia Bones did make every Auror who Harry had gotten run laps. Harry thought that was rather funny until she informed him that he should start running as well. He suddenly wasn't having nearly as much fun. Afterward she explained that because his move was quote, "stupidly reckless and a good way to get yourself killed." He figured he'd keep the fact that he had basically stood in front of Voldemort and dared the Dark Lord to try and kill him to himself after Amelia had informed him.

Over the next few days, Harry's schedule became quite heavy. In the mornings he would work with an Auror on spell casting, then afternoons would be taken up by dueling and 'combat simulations', and finally after Director Bones got off of work he would do his homework for the day which was helpfully provided by Susan. He had consequently found out that Amelia was a worse taskmaster than McGonagall. He knew the reason for that one too. Apparently, she believed that he was her next star Auror recruit and she didn't care if Fudge found his way out of his southern orifice or not. She had stated quite elegantly every way in which Fudge could jump off a tall object.

On Friday Harry once again found himself entering the Ministry with Madam Bones. There wasn't much unusual, except Amelia had not told him what the plan for the day was. Harry was curious because several of the Aurors, most notably Robards, had been teasing him about the events to come on this particular day.

"Harry hurry up. We a lot to do today." Amelia spoke with a broad and almost evil smile, another thing that worried. Amelia Bones was not one to avoid questions and yet for the last two days she had baited him at every turn.

"You still haven't told me what exactly we are doing today." Harry had tried this tactic several times during the week and had been rejected each time. Still he hoped at some point Bones was going to take pity on him and answer.

"Oh I haven't?" She smiled; why did she always smile like that. Harry shrugged it off.

"No you haven't."

"Well that will certainly be remedied in time." This was Amelia's impression of a certain old man who shall not remain nameless.

"Thank you Dumbledore."

"Now Harry, I don't believe that was a compliment." She was still grinning. Madam Bones knew she was starting to get to Harry and that really didn't bother her all that much. Harry growled. Then he smiled.

"You're very perceptive." The statement brought a smug grin to Harry's face.

"Cheeky Potter, very cheeky." The pair approached the Department of Magical Law Enforcement which meant that soon Harry was going to be passed off to his keeper for the day. He was not happy going into the day blind. "Alright Harry, I think I've teased you enough for the morning. We have a bit of a surprise for today which I think you'll enjoy. After that we will review for the trial to insure that you are as prepared as possible for whatever Fudge and company throw at you. Is that a fair enough outline for the day ore do you wish to know more?"

"More," spoke Harry, not even hesitating for a moment. He wanted to know. Surprises were often not good surprises.

"Too bad." That was the end of the conversation as far as Bones was concerned and she headed into her office. Harry figured that Wayne was his keeper for the day. The Auror in question was already in Amelia's office sitting in one of the waiting chairs.

"Harry are you ready for the day?" The Auror questioned upon seeing his student for the week.

"No, but that is your fault isn't it." Harry grumbled more to himself than to Robards, but the Senior Auror still heard him and replied.

"That it is Harry, that it is." Robards took one last look around and then began walking out the door. "Come on Harry we don't want to keep things at a standstill."

"Coming."

The two took off walking down a nearly deserted corridor of the Ministry. The destination was obviously the training center.

* * *

Much of the walk from Amelia's office proceeded normally, but the end was different. Before reaching the exercise room, Robards pulled Harry into the room before. Harry groaned immediately. It was a classroom.

"School?"

"Even better Harry. Tests!" Robards was entirely to happy. He was eager for the day that much was obvious.

"Tests?" Harry knew he had heard Amelia say that the Aurors believed he would enjoy the day. Why would they think he would enjoy tests?

"Not just any tests Harry. We decided you might like to experience a shorter version of the Auror Qualifications. Are you interested?" The gleam in Wayne's eye was viewable from a good distance away. He knew that Harry would enjoy this day. It was possible that he would not enjoy the next few hours though.

"Really? You'll let me take the Auror test?" Harry now understood why everyone had been saying that today was gonna be a fantastic day.

"Part of it. Most of it you won't take, but several parts you will. For the first three hours you will be taking the Law test. With your overview in Wizarding Law over the last few days and a bit of common sense I am confident you can answer a good portion of the questions. After that we will move onto the fun stuff. You will take a standard Auror combat test, which will be explained later. After we return from lunch, you will take on three live scenarios. We will grade you as if you were an actual recruit. I don't want you to get down on yourself Harry so remember that it takes two years minimum to be an Auror, so the tests you will be taking are designed for someone who has at least five more years of schooling." Harry nodded.

"Alright." Robards clapped Harry on the back and pulled him toward a table.

"Fantastic Harry. This is the Law test each Auror has to pass every five years. Actually, this is about half of the real test which takes all day." Robards waved in a dismissive way after his statement. "The questions are of the same type and I think that it will be an interesting way to test how much you picked up from Director Bones and the rest of us grunts over the last few days. Let's find out how much you've learned, shall we?"

For the next several hours, Harry answered question after question. The test was by far the longest he had taken. He found that many things he still did not know, but he was able to use what he had been taught to answer a respectable portion of the questions.

* * *

With the first test done and sent for grading, Harry was taken into the main training center where he was told the real fun would begin.

"Alright Harry, now that you've had the a taste of the boring part of becoming an Auror, it is time to see the fun in becoming an Auror. You'll be taking an Auror Combat Exam. The combat exam is nothing more and nothing less than dueling an Auror. Usually the recruits choose one of their teachers, and today it will be one of the Aurors here. You will be graded on your performance not whether you win or lose. So who would you like to duel?"

"You," replied Harry instantly. There was no question in Harry's mind. He hadn't beaten Wayne yet and he wanted another shot at it.

"I thought that might be your choice. Alright, let's get ready." After the acceptance the pair moved to get in position. They would use one of the dueling arenas because they had found that it was a much more natural environment for Harry. Both duelist set themselves opposite each other. "Ready to lose Harry?"

"In your dreams Gawain." Harry smiled back.

"You haven't beaten me yet." The Auror was smiling just as large.

"Yet being the operative word."

"Alright then let's begin." Both bowed to each other and waited for the signal. The horn sounded and both began instantly. Robards shot a quick stunning spell, but Harry was already moving out of the way.

The boy had immediately dodged to the right and began readying himself. Harry had come up with several ways to transfer things from his research with Vector to dueling during the week. The he decided to try at the moment was a pulse of magic. The magic had no real purpose but if it connected, it delivered the equivalent of a magical haymaker. The true advantage was that the pulse was very hard to see. It only slightly distorted vision as it traveled. Quickly sending it toward Wayne he ducked under another stunner.

Robards saw Harry send the pulse and recognized it; however, he was not able to dodge it completely. The pulse caught him in the left shoulder. He grunted. Harry had scored the first hit of the match. Retaliation came in the form of an incarceration spell which missed. Robards pushed his attack moving in closer to Harry.

Several quick spells were shot back in forth with no lasting consequences but several glancing hits. The duel was fairly even at this point, and Harry was feeling pretty good at his performance so far. He decided to try another of his tricks. With a quick Lumos, Harry shot a beam of light straight at Wayne. It was focused like spotlight which made it both hard to dodge and innocuous. Robards cursed. He wasn't exactly sure how Harry managed to focus the light to be so bright, but he knew that he hated it. There simply was no good counter, he couldn't block the light without restricting or impairing his vision and in doing so loose track of Harry.

That was when the stunner hit. It quickly dropped Robards to the floor and effectively ended the match. Harry wasn't exactly sure how he managed it. His wand had been occupied with the light spell yet he still managed to send a stunner. He shook it off and woke up the fallen Auror. Robards glared, then laughed.

"Merlin Harry, you managed to beat me using that bloody light spell." Wayne was grinning, he was obviously impressed. Several of the Aurors off to the right were clapping.

"Er. . . yeah." Harry was still a little off in Wonderland.

"Come on let's go again." For the next hour the two dueled quite a few more times, but Harry was unable to reproduce the win from the first match. He was still very happy with his performance. The Aurors were also happy to see how Harry had progressed throughout the week. Afterward the group left to eat.

* * *

After lunch Harry and Wayne headed down to a new room in which Harry had never been before. Walking in it appeared that the room was empty, but Harry knew it wasn't. He could feel the magic of the room.

"Harry, this is the illusion room. It was built so Auror trainees could experience what Aurors experience out in the real world. There are numerous scenarios that we can call up. Each one is either an experience that a real Auror has had or a situation expressly built to test an Auror." Immediately after the explanation the room changed to a battlefield with dozens of wizards on either side. Harry looked around in awe of the room.

"Wow, this is all an illusion?"

"Yes. You're looking at a scene from a Wizard War that took place more than two hundred years ago. The truly amazing thing about this room is that each scenario is interactive. You can be apart of each simulation, taking part as the wizard who experienced it or in the case of some scenarios a place designated by the designers. I'm not even gonna ask this time, I know you're ready to do this." Harry nodded emphatically.

"Alright." The scene changed to a country house with a group of four wizards standing some fifty feet outside it. "I'll leave you alone and when you're ready to begin say so." With the last instructions given, Robards left the Harry alone. Harry took a few minutes to get a feel for his surroundings before pulling his wand.

"Begin." Everything came alive. Suddenly the wind was howling, and thunder sounded. Rain began to fall and the Wizards talked to themselves.

"Davis, get over here." The tall wizard on the far left had called in Harry's direction. Taking that as a cue to join the group, Harry walked forward. "Bout time Davis. What were you waiting for? Never mind just listen up. We've got ten to fifteen wizards inside with an unknown number of hostages. We'll be going disillusioned with wands drawn. Stun only unless there is no other choice." The tall wizard stopped looking around the group.

"Parkinson, Edwards, and Travis. You'll take front. Davis, you're with me around back." The groups quickly separated and Harry made his way around back with the tall wizard. He felt a hard tap on the top of his head and a feeling of a cool liquid flowed over him. He looked back wondering what was going on. "You forgot to disillusion yourself Davis. Merlin, are you okay to do this?" Harry quickly looked down finding himself a human chameleon; he nodded back and continued forward.

At the back door Harry and the tall wizard flanked the door. The tall wizard nodded to Harry. When nothing happened the wizard indicated the door. Harry pushed the door slightly open and looked through the crack, when he found nothing he opened it fully and the tall wizard went in.

The open corridor partially lit by candles on either side was abandoned and doors were situated on either side. Cautiously Harry's partner moved to the door on the right. Harry pressed himself to the wall. As the door was opened a spell shot out barely missing the tall man who dived to the side. Harry instantly rolled to the center of the doorway and shot a stunner in. The assailant was hit and fell. Inside the room the women huddled in the corner. Harry started toward them, but that only seemed to make them more afraid. It wasn't till he remembered his current camouflage that he ascertained the reason why.

"Davis, you're making it worse. Take off the disillusionment before they scream and alert the whole house." Harry was in trouble. He had no idea how to undo his current state. He tried the only idea that he could come up with.

"Finite Incantatem." He was rather happy when it worked. The women also seemed to calm down as well.

"It's okay. We're here to help." Harry thought himself a bit of an idiot using such a line, but he had no other ideas. Happily the women nodded and began to get up. Quickly taking them outside and allowing them to go, Harry made his way back to the other Auror.

"Come on Davis, they aren't the only ones here. We need to get this done as quickly as possible." Again Harry felt a tap on his head and the feeling of cool liquid. "Let's go." Moving this time to the door on the right, they both situated themselves. Again the door was opened, but this time no spell came out. "Empty."

After a quick scan from his partner told them that there were no hidden doors where they currently were, their only option was to go up the stairs at the end of the hall. As silently as possible the two moved forward. After a quick check on the landing above confirmed that there was no ambush waiting immediately up the stairs they crept upward.

Once on the landing the tall man immediately groaned under his breath. Harry knew why, the corridor was a tactical nightmare with numerous doors on either side of the hall as well as at the end. If more than one room was occupied and a commotion was raised, the situation could deteriorate instantly. The pair chose the first door on the right and paused before entering.

"If there is any noise louder than a conversation, get into the room and clear it out. We'll make a stand in there if we need to." The man whispered conveying the seriousness of the situation. Harry gave a slight nod in understanding.

The door was opened and nothing happened. Both moved into the room slowly. It was too dark to tell if the room was empty or not. Whether it was clear or not soon became inconsequential because loud yells were heard from the other side of the home. The tall Auror immediately took off in that direction at top speed. Harry saw no other choice but to follow. That would turn out to be his mistake.

They passed through several rooms without trouble, but the third room contained five people. None of those people were friendly. The tall Auror was taken down two steps into the room. Harry ducked trying to dodge any spells sent to intercept him. He managed four feet into the room before he too was taken down.

Harry woke up wondering exactly what had happened. Wayne stood over him offering a hand up.

"Harry, don't worry you did fairly well considering it was your first time in that kind of situation. Remember in the future if some one makes a bad decision, don't make it worse by doing the same." Harry nodded. It was obvious he shouldn't have followed at a dead sprint. It gave him no time to react when they had ran into an occupied room. "Come on we have a few more of these to go through before we're done."

Several more scenario's followed. Each time Harry was put into a different situation, and each time he got a little better at seeing the board. Each move became a bit more calculated. For several hours he worked at standard simulations, and for several hours he honed his skills a bit more each time. When it was almost time to leave, Robards stopped the simulation one last time to talk.

"Harry, we have one more simulation for you. In Auror training you would see this a maximum of twice. Everyone sees this scenario once, most never try it again. It is not a pleasant scenario, and does not end well." Harry wondered why no one would try it more than once, but more than that he wondered why Wayne said, "does not end well," as if it was a forgone conclusion. "I want to know if you really want to try it." It was said as a statement but it was clearly a question.

"I'll do it," Harry said resolutely. He hadn't ever backed down from a challenge before and he didn't intend to do so now.

"Alright, this simulation will start in immediately upon loading." With the last comment Robards left leaving Harry to himself. He took a few deep breaths calming himself for the last test.

The scene blurred and became a forest setting with several fires around. Harry heard a scream and immediately turned to see its source. A woman, badly injured by looks of it, lay not twenty feet from him. He ran to her aid. As he knelt at her side, he heard a very familiar spell.

"Avada Kedavra!" The spell spoke from behind and immediately Harry rolled only to see the woman killed by the spell intended for him. He sent a quick pulse of magic into the darkness, only to be hit by a spell cast from behind.

He woke up shaking. Robards once again stood above him looking apologetic. It was several moments before he spoke.

"I didn't want to give you this scenario Harry. I think it is something that some one so young should never have to see, but you're special. All of us can see it. When the suggestion came up, Director Bones said that we should give you the same information we give an Auror recruit when they first have the option, and that you should be the one to decide. If you wish we will obliviate you of this experience." Harry thought about it. He had seen some one killed, and more than that was directly responsible for that person being hit. Whether it was a simulation or not, for the second time he had seen some one killed. He shook his head slowly. He didn't want to lose the memory only to face it again later.

"I don't want to be obliviated." Robards nodded.

"I thought that would be your choice, and the situation for you is different than for many others. The scenario is called the Cermanski Dilemma and no one has ever found a solution. Aurors have attempted to find one for hundreds years and all have failed. With the information you are given, even with a second try, there is no solution."

"What is the point of the simulation then?" Harry questioned. In response the room began to change again. The scene became a conference room with several men. The situation started and Harry watched as the men argued amongst themselves about a supposed trap and then one of them suddenly grabbed an item on the table and was gone.

"Do you understand the reason now Harry?" He nodded it was obvious now.

"The mistake wasn't during the fighting; it was the choice to go in the first place."

* * *

AN: Sorry guys I pushed the trial back one more chapter. I tried to think of a reason Amelia would stick to the plan as was described to Harry at the beginning of the day, but the character, as I have designed her, wouldn't. Hence the chapter is shorter. Originally I had the review in this chapter as my plan was actually divided in two, one with the no win and another without it. I decided to put it in and as such the chapter ends much earlier than it would have otherwise.

My reasoning for including the no-win in the story. First and foremost, I think it makes for a good section and a more compelling read. Second, to have Harry grow as a character he does need to face things that shake him. Things that change him. Third, the other characters realize that Harry is special, and that he will face things others shouldn't. They want him to be as prepared as possible.

One more thing. I promise the trial will take place next chapter.


	13. Chapter 12

The writer of this fan fiction has no legal claim on any characters or events in the Harry Potter universe. Only original plot elements are his.

* * *

Harry Potter had been having an odd week, but for him that was actually quite normal. Being arrested and then remanded to the custody of the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the land, while new to Harry, was not all that surprising to those who knew him. During the week, Harry had stayed at the previously stated officer's home and had found that she was a greater taskmaster than Minerva McGonagall could ever hope to be. Being a Gryffindor, Harry had found that waking promptly at six in the morning did not agree with him and that idea was echoed by the rest of the males in Gryffindor house. Those known for their bravery at Hogwarts had long since concluded that a person is much more courageous after 8 AM. Amelia Bones disagreed.

"Harry Potter get up and stop lazing about." The stern voice of Madam Bones shook Harry from a wonderful dream including a couple of Hufflepuffs, a pair of Ravenclaws, and a lone Slytherin. He was obviously not appreciative of the rude awakening, but figured that Amelia would be less than amused by his reason for attempting to go back to sleep. Thus, he was left but one option.

"Ahm comin'," stated a still drowsy chosen one.

"You have ten minutes to get downstairs or you'll be running laps until the trial." Director Bones moved out of the room having issued the threat and being confident in its success.

She was correct of course, Harry would listen to the threat and report in time. Precisely eight minutes later, Harry made his way down the front stairs of the Bones ancestral home.

"Cadet Potter reporting as ordered ma'am," announced Harry. He also threw in an overzealous salute for good measure.

"Very funny Harry." Amelia Bones' stern facade was slightly broken by the quirking of her lips. "Since this is the day of your trial, we will be reviewing everything you need to know as the accused. Before we begin however, I have several things I think you'd like to see." With that said Bones passed a folder over to Harry. Upon opening the file, he found several papers which were obviously his results for the Auror Test which he had taken the previous day.

* * *

Auror Performance Evaluation

Trainee: Harry Potter Trainee ID: 91981

Trainers: K. Shacklebolt 63217, G. Robards 73843, N. Tonks 29655

Test Evaluation

Written Law Exam: 53/100

Written Procedure Exam: Test Not Administered

Practical Procedure: Test Not Administered

Investigation Practical: Test Not Administered

Combat: 82/100

Cumulative Testing: 135/200

Situational Testing

Davis Scenario: 27/50

Berin Scenario: 33/50

O'Malley Scenario: 37/50

Cermanski Dilemma: 42/50

Situational Cumulative: 139/200

Cumulative Total: 274/400

Comments:

Recruit shows outstanding potential. Learns exceptionally quickly. Needs to expand spell and procedural knowledge. - Shacklebolt 63217

Recruit shows aptitude in all practical situations, but works best in close combat situations. Recommend elite tactical training when opportunity arrives. Good Job Harry. - Tonks 29655

Recruit has surpassed every expectation. Given the trainings compressed time interval, the recruit has risen to every challenge set before him. Knowledge and planning are the only aspects which the recruit needs improvement. Instincts and actions during pressure situations are all above standard. - Robards 73843

Recruit continues to impress and will one day make an excellent Auror. - Bones 35813

* * *

Harry was speechless. His scores were slightly short of passing the sections he had taken, but the comments were more than he could have asked for. After looking at Amelia who had a rather large grin plastered on her face, Harry could not help but mirror it.

"Thank you ma'am."

"You earned them Harry, and you were scored as any other trainee." Amelia paused for a moment to Harry a little time to revel in his successes before continuing to more important issues. "Alright, I'm sure you can look more at that in the future. In the meantime we have work to do."

"My trial."

"That's correct Harry. We'll do a bit of review on what you need to remember before we head to the Ministry. The most important thing to remember that this is the Wizengamot and it is composed mainly of old family Purebloods. They will respect you only if you carry yourself in a way worthy of that respect. You cannot act like a guilty person, or they will believe you to be a guilty person. Always remain calm no matter what is said. They will be judging everything that you do." Harry decided to continue where Bones left off.

"The trial isn't just about whether I committed the crime, but also whether I am fit as a wizard or not." He didn't really feel that was fair, but Amelia had drilled it into his head over the course of the week.

"That's right. I see that you have remembered what I've been trying to tell you." She grinned a bit. "Since you seem to understand the etiquette, we will move to your defense."

For the next several hours Amelia questioned Harry as if she was the lead interrogator at his trial. He answered every question and successfully maneuvered out of the majority of corners she laid out for him. A total of three hours later, Director Bones was satisfied with Harry's knowledge and demeanor. They left for the Ministry roughly around noon intending to arrive early and be ready well before the trial began.

* * *

Upon the arrival at her office, Amelia was quickly approached by Kingsley Shacklebolt who informed her of some distressing news. Returning to Harry, she passed that knowledge on to him.

"It seems that Fudge is attempting to further stack the deck against you. He has changed the trial time and has sent the required notification at the last possible instant." Her statement was quickly confirmed by a paper airplane arriving at Jane's desk Owl's that arrived at the Ministry were quickly changed to interdepartmental memos, which included the original message as well as a description of the owl, from the Department of Magical Communication.

"Great. Are they going to do anything fairly?" Harry doubted it.

"I would not bet on it Harry. Very well, let's go."

The two left for the main courtroom of the Wizengamot. Several people gave Harry encouragement as he moved down the long hallway. He was glad for it.

Approaching the massive double doors, Harry was surprised to see Tonks and another Auror who he had met during the week flanking the entrance.

"Wotcher Harry. Fudge considers you a dangerous criminal so we've been instructed to escort you for the protection of the court." Tonks grinned. She found it hilarious that Fudge thought Aurors were needed to protect a room of fully trained wizards from a fifth year student.

"Aurors Tonks and Allen escort Mr. Potter to his seat." Amelia seemed to think the situation was rather humorous as well. Harry was led into a larger circular room with three prominent seats at the northern most part of the front row. In those seats sat the Minister of Magic himself, a rather unruly wizard Harry was not familiar with, and shortly afterward a stern looking Madam Bones. He was seated at the very center of the room, a seat obviously created it unsettle the occupier.

"Now that the accused has arrived, I call the trial of Harry Potter to order. The defendant stands trial on the charges of Assault on a Ministry Agent. Such charges bring a maximum sentence of 20 years in Azkaban." Fudge's voice rang through the chamber. Harry had learned that there was no formal plea in the Wizarding World, you were either found guilty or you were set free. Knowing this, Harry waited.

"Harry Potter, did you knowingly cast spells intended to disarm and stun Dolores Umbridge?"

"It was durin. . ." Harry was unable to answer the question in they way he would like, being interrupted by Fudge.

"Yes or no will suffice."

"Yes, but . . ." Again the interruption came.

"Did you knowingly cast the spell at Madam Umbridge with full knowledge of her status as a Ministry Employee."

"I knew . . ."

"Again, yes or no will suffice."

"Yes." Harry was becoming agitated. He remained outwardly calm but inside he was stewing.

"Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot, the accused has admitted casting the spells, and he has also admitted knowledge of the target's status. This is a simple case and there can be no other outcome than guilty given what has already been said here today." Fudge was playing to the crowd, and it was working. Luckily for Harry, before a call to vote could be made, Amelia Bones decided to weigh in.

"I believe you are forgetting context Minister. Remember, context is everything." After admonishing the Minister, Amelia turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, what were the circumstances of the events in question?"

"It was a class demonstration." Harry sighed in relief. He had been worried that he would not be allowed to give his side of the story.

"What kind of a class demonstration would require a student to curse a teacher?" The question came from Harry's right, and before he could answer the voice continued. "Surely such demonstrations would undermine the authority of the teacher and are therefore useless."

"She has no authority." Harry winced. He knew he shouldn't have said that. A quick look at Amelia confirmed his beliefs. She was not happy.

"She is a teacher and therefore has authority. Is she not?" Harry tried to think of an answer that would redeem his previous comment. His silence did not go unnoticed. "Mr. Potter?"

"She is employed as a teacher but her actions remove any possibility of respect for the authority she is supposed to hold." Amelia gave a small smile and decided to help Harry along.

"Why do you hold that opinion Mr. Potter?"

"She allows for no practical work at all. We can't learn the material from the book alone."

"Is there anything else?"

"We can't have an opinion either." The assembled body looked confused at Harry's proclamation.

"The students can't have an opinion? What do you mean?"

"With the exception of the class demonstration for which I have been brought to trial, Umbridge has denied any student who disagreed with her the right to speak." Some of the Wizengamot looked outraged but more looked indifferent. At that moment, Fudge seemed to clue in to the fact that he was losing control of the trial.

"Dolores Umbridge's teaching methods are beyond question in this trial. They are irrelevant to the issue of the assault which the defendant has already admitted to. Any other discussion beyond that point is also irrelevant." The Minister seemed to have great sway over the assembly because a great many heads nodded.

"I disagree with much of what you said Minister, but you are correct that we have moved off-topic. Mr. Potter, what were the circumstances of the class demonstration?"

"Professor Umbridge was teaching the idea that all conflict can be resolved without violence. I disagreed. While many conflicts can be resolved without violence there are certain situations where . . ." Harry was unable to continue because a member of the assembled body interrupted him.

"Your personal viewpoint is irrelevant Mr. Potter. Please stick to the events in question." The speaker was male but that was all Harry could discern.

"Sorry. I asked her to prove her viewpoint through a demonstration, and she agreed." Harry's statements were exactly what Fudge was waiting for.

"So you purposefully created a situation in order to curse your teacher." More than a couple hushed conversations broke out in gallery.

"She was presenting the idea that all conflict can be solved without violence. If she was correct in her ideas, she should have had no trouble convincing me otherwise. In addition, it was Professor Umbridge who fired the first spell. Not me." All conversation within the courtroom stopped. Amelia Bones was first to speak having already known the story.

"It was Madam Umbridge who initiated violence not yourself?" Harry nodded. "I believe you proved your point quite conclusively then." Harry smiled and nodded again.

"He still cursed his teacher. He has no proof that the supposed demonstration ever took place, nor does he have any proof that his actions were within the scope of any such demonstration." Minister Fudge was not going to let the event go easily.

"There was a room full of students which can confirm my story. The reason I have no proof myself is because you tore it up." As one the heads of the Wizengamot turned to the Minister. Bones having expected the reaction was the first one to speak.

"Are you accusing the Minister of destroying evidence?"

"Yes I am, and Professor Vector can confirm the events of my arrest." Fudge was sweating, but he was not going to be discredited by this boy.

"This is preposterous. I am the Minister." The man beside the Minister finally spoke for the first time.

"Is the witness here to corroborate the Minister's mishandling of evidence?" Amelia Bones turned to answer.

"She is." With her answer made, Amelia signaled to a spot behind Harry. After a quick look behind him, he noticed several familiar faces for the first time. In the back row of the assembly sat Septima Vector, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Professor Vector was already moving down the row to the stairs at her right. A short time later, she was seated at a small witness stand at Harry's right.

"Professor Vector, is Mr. Potter's allegation of destruction of evidence true?"

"It is," stated Vector. She then took out a few bits of torn parchment and handed them to Tonks. The pieces were quickly delivered to Amelia who muttered a quick Reparo. The pieces reassembled themselves and the parchment was quickly read.

"It seems Mr. Potter is telling the truth. This is a signed statement that there would no repercussions for his actions in the class demonstration. I move that given the evidence presented that Harry Potter is dismissed of the Assault charge." The call was promptly seconded.

"All in favor." A great many hands rose, but many did not. It seemed that Fudge still had backers in the court, despite the evidence against him. "All opposed." Hands again went up. Harry tried to count both times but could not keep up from his central position.

"No clear majority is present; I ask that the Wizengamot retires to deliberate further. I feel that all evidence necessary for a decision has been presented." The motion from the unruly wizard quickly gained several seconds, but Amelia did not look pleased. Unfortunately when votes were called, it quickly became apparent that the motion would pass easily. The members filed out of the chamber behind the central seat of the Minister's.

Harry remained seated clueless as to what he should do. Tonks approached him and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"This isn't out of the ordinary Harry. It happens a lot when cases are within a half dozen votes. Don't worry, Director Bones will convince them." Vector followed but did not make direct contact with Harry. Being a witness she could not take liberties as Tonks had. She calmly took position behind him.

"Thanks Tonks." The reply came from Harry, and he was truly thankful for the words of encouragement. The two waited for the return of the court members. Behind them Harry's classmates waited as well. Each of them nervous, worried that Harry wouldn't be dismissed. Along with those visible to the court, another wizard waited in earnest. Invisible to the naked eye, Albus Dumbledore waited the decision of the body he once directed. The early end of questioning worried him, such actions were not made without reason. One thing was certain, Harry Potter could not go to Azkaban.

* * *

Harry began to get worried when an hour passed. He couldn't understand exactly what was taking so long. Luckily for his nerves the Wizengamot members did not take nearly as long as they usually took to deliberate an issue and they returned after one hour and thirty-seven minutes.

"Harry Potter. You are dismissed of the charge. However, I feel that your actions were unnecessary and should you come before this body again I will not be so understanding." The unruly man finished and stared into Harry.

"Mr. Potter, you are free to go." Amelia spoke quickly trying to diffuse the tension of the room.

"Thank you."

With the trial behind him, Harry moved out of the courtroom escorted by Tonks and Vector who had not left his side. Once on the outside he was quickly mobbed by reporters. He tried to push through, but the mob was unwilling to let him pass. The duo of witches attempted to clear a path for Harry to follow but it only separated them.

"Give the boy some room!" The angered voice of Amelia Bones sounded over the reporters questions. "Anyone reporter who isn't at least five feet from Mr. Potter in the next ten seconds will be arrested for harassment." Amelia's voice succeeded where other attempts had fail. Dozens of disgruntled reporters took several steps back from Harry.

"Mr. Potter, how do you feel being released?" The shouted question was one of the first Harry could really understand, everything up to that point had been too garbled to make out.

"Er. . . relieved I guess. I knew I wasn't guilty and I hoped the Wizengamot would see it that way as well." Several reporters nodded, but others looked disappointed.

"What about Professor Umbridge?" A witch that appeared to be rather hostile toward him sneered the question in Harry's general direction.

"What about her?" The reply was no less than growled.

"What kind of example does your obvious opposition to her teaching style present?"

"What teaching style? That implies she's actually attempting to teach the students and I think I've made my thoughts on that matter very clear." Harry was getting increasingly annoyed with the reporters; he wanted to get back to Hogwarts.

"And what of your attempts to undermine the Minister?" The same witch put forth another question obviously intended to paint Harry in a bad light.

"Undermine? Daily Prophet I'm guessing?" She nodded in reply to his question. "I'm not trying to undermine anyone, I'm trying to save lives. The sooner people admit that there is danger in the world and that hiding under the rug won't save you, the safer we'll all be. The public can hid all it wants, but I choose to be ready when Voldemort comes for me." The usual wince accompanied the Dark Lord's name, but Harry ignored it and pushed the rest of the way through the crowd. Once on the other side of the mob, he was hit by a brown blur that he figured was Hermione.

"Harry!" Not the most eloquent of starting statements from the intellectual witch, but none the less it conveyed the relief that she felt.

"Er . . . Hermione . . . Hermione . . . I need to breath." Harry's statements got increasingly breathless as his air supply diminished.

"Oh! Sorry!"

"Mione give the guy some room. Good that you aren't going to Azkaban, mate." Ron approached a bit after Hermione who had ran when she caught sight of her friend.

"Thanks Ron, I don't think Azkaban would have agreed with me." Harry grinned for the first time since his acquittal.

"Bloody right," the redhead replied. He didn't even bother trying to keep the smile off of his face.

Several paces behind Ron stood the Hufflepuff duo who was quickly becoming part of Harry's inner circle.

"Harry you didn't go to jail." The statement came from Hannah in her usual way. Susan took the opportunity to roll her eyes and give the back of Hannah's head a small slap.

"No I didn't."

"That's good because you still have to teach us defense, and that would be really difficult from Azkaban." Harry was now the one to roll his eyes as the Hufflepuff's apparent favorite subject entered the conversation. Then again he figured now was as good a time as any. He motioned the four closer so they wouldn't be overheard by those loiter around.

"Alright, I'll do it. We'll figure it out when we get back to Hogwarts." Of the four around only Hermione seemed to take issue.

"Harry? Could we wait a bit?" After seeing the looks from the assembled group. "Just a few days. After Hogsmeade." Harry looked at her, but her eyes pleaded for him to grant his request. Of course Harry Potter, being the nice guy that he is, acquiesced.

"Alright, after Hogsmeade then." The four then broke from their impromptu huddle and spied Amelia Bones and Albus Dumbledore patiently waiting to speak. Dumbledore was the first to speak after the conclusion of the previous conversation.

"Harry my boy, I'm impressed with the way you handled yourself." The twinkle was evident in his eye.

"Thanks sir."

"Now Harry, as much as I'm sure you enjoy the company of the assembled party, I do believe that it is time for us to leave." He turned to Amelia. "Director Bones, I would ask that you allow me to return Mr Potter to Hogwarts along with Mr. Weasley as well as Miss Granger. I think that you may also like some time with Miss Bones and Miss Abbott as well."

"I think that will do nicely Albus, I'll have Susan and Hannah back to Hogwarts before curfew." Amelia turned to Harry. "Harry, it was a pleasure having you. I think that my Aurors will miss their charge as well."

"Thanks for keeping me ma'am . . . Er Amelia." Harry grinned and with a few waves the trio along with the Headmaster left for places known to few. The three left at the Ministry departed to the Bones home for a bit of relaxation.

* * *

A quick floo to Grimmauld, where Harry was not unceremoniously thrown out of the fire, brought Harry face to face with a big shaggy mutt. At least, that is what many referred to when they spoke of his godfather.

"Sirius!" Harry gave a quick hug to the mutt in question.

"Harry, getting dragged before the entire Wizengamot to face a trial that might send you to Azkaban? And you're only a fifth year to boot? James would be so proud. Lily would jinx you from here to India though." Sirius grinned. Harry laughed.

"I guess, I just have a knack for finding incredible situations." Both were happy to let the seriousness, no pun intended, bleed out of their minds for the moment. Everything had gone well.

"I hope you gave that Umbridge a good one for me too!"

"I gave her Snape's hair and turned her skin green. Yeah like that." Sirius did not in fact have Snape's hair but the color of his skin was eerily reminiscent of Umbridge's little mishap.

"Harry. Please don't ever put that mental image in my head again." A shake accompanied Sirius' spoken word. It appeared he was deeply troubled by his godson's prank. Harry considered that a definite victory.

The group continued to talk amongst themselves. Several more Order members flowed in and out of Grimmauld place during the time the trio was there. Among them was a haggard looking Remus Lupin; he quickly gave Harry his congratulations. Others among the passers-by included Tonks, Shacklebolt, and Moody. Eventually it became time to head back to Hogwarts, and as a consequence normal school life. Each of the three students bid their farewells and stepped into the fire, headed back.

Harry stepped out of the fire and into the Deputy Headmistress's office. Taking a look around he summed up the feeling.

"I'm home." He took a breath and smiled.

"Yes you are, and you are getting ash all over my carpet as well." Harry wasn't smiling any longer.

* * *

AN: Thought I'd abandoned the story huh. It was a wedding, then I was being lazy and had a bit of writer's block(dialogue not plot).

Well there is the trial as promised. Actually had several options for it, but I decided that this one made the most sense. Plus Harry being convicted of something would simply push the main story back too much. Managed to work a bit of Sirius in as well.

Thanks for the reviews, though I think some people need to lighten up about the Author's Notes when it is a 400 word AN on the back of a 4000 word chapter but I'd rather my story wasn't taken down, so I'll comply . . . for now.


	14. Chapter 13

I don't own Harry Potter and I'm sure you must have realized that by now.

* * *

Returning to Hogwarts was a relief for Harry. Despite his ability to find trouble or if you asked him the ability for trouble to find him, Harry was far more comfortable within the castle walls than any other place he had ever been. Of course, Hogwarts was not without a couple disadvantages. The one that applies most in Harry's case was the constant attention he received from the other residents. Upon returning to the Gryffindor dorms, he was given a hero's welcome from most. As a result they demanded he party with them until the wee hours of the morning. The only problem was that the party supplies were on low upon his return on Saturday and as a result the party ended in the wee hours of the morning on Monday.

Harry had lived through many consequences in his life and while not the most severe of them, the consequences of that party were not a pleasant experience. Harry's journey to the Arithmancy classroom while simultaneously cursing any deity he could think of was quite possibly the funniest sight no one saw. He was quite sure that he had not chosen any alcohol the previous night, and was as a result plotting a horribly painful and most importantly public demise for the Weasley twins.

His entrance into Vector's classroom brought the usual overly cheerful question from the previously stated professor.

"Harry do you . . ." started Vector, but she stopped prematurely due to Harry's presentation of the needle. Similarly, before she could tell him, the needle had made its way back into the student's pocket. After Harry had taken a seat with a large groan and promptly buried his face in his arms. It was then, as Harry Potter was practically laying on the table, that Septima Vector finally took in his disheveled appearance. "Late night Harry?" The question was answered by a rather rude gesture. "Well compose yourself and let's get to work. We have a limited time and your vacation set us back even more."

"Not a vacation," mumbled Harry without raising from his position.

"No matter, it still set us back and we need to move forward." Harry quickly remembered where they had left off, which was trying to control his magical release. Sighing, he brought his head up and let the smallest amount of magic he could flow. After several moments Vector spoke, "Very good Harry. Apparently you weren't just on vacation. Hold that amount for a few seconds and then gradually release a little bit more." Harry nodded.

His marathon training sessions with the Aurors had paid off with a vast improvement in his control. The control was necessary for a few of the tricks he had come up with; several of them, if done incorrectly, could easily injure or even kill someone. He did as Vector asked and slowly stepped up his magical output.

"That's enough Harry." Vector stopped and waited for her partner's attention. "I'm impressed with your control, you have almost six times the control you did last week. I think that we can attempt to use the models again, but we will still work with your control first thing each morning. In the meantime, I think we're ready to start with a little of the academic side of our research."

"Academic side?" Harry wondered what exactly Vector meant, hadn't she said that she would take care of most of the paperwork?

"Yes the academic side. In order to accomplish our goal, you will have to understand what you want to happen before you can attempt to make it happen. In order to modify an atom of gold, you need to understand both what the atom is and how you want to modify it. In addition, you need to communicate what you want to happen. . ." She was cut off by a reply from Harry.

"Communicate?"

"Yes communicate. We talked about the nature of magic remember. A living energy. In order to use magic to our purpose, Magic has to understand exactly what we want."

"I think I understand." That was truthful, he did believe he understood, but his mind wandered a bit when he considered it.

"Good. . . Er. . . Harry?" Vector seemed to have lost the attention of her partner and was querying as to why such a lapse had occurred.

"Oh . . . I was just wondering how we knew that Magic was alive." It wasn't said as a question but Septima answered anyway.

"We don't." Now Harry looked confused. "We believe that Magic is alive or at least sentient based on observation. Observations of magical interactions led people to believe that Magic is alive. Take spells for example. Do you believe that the words direct the spell?" Harry shrugged a bit. Apparently that wasn't good enough for Vector though and she continued to wait.

"I guess they do." Vector smiled.

"Your instincts are good as always Harry. We believe they do in a way. Levitate that chair Harry."

"Windgard . . ." He started but was quickly interrupted by Vector.

"Without the words, verbal or mental." He nodded and concentrated on his task, it was harder than saying the spell but he was able to raise the chair. "Very good. Was that easier or harder than saying the spell?"

"Harder," replied Harry instantly.

"Do you know why?" A head shake followed the professor's question. "The words help to communicate to and direct the magic. The levitation spell has been around for more than a thousand years, and Magic recognizes it. That reaction is why we believe that Magic is a sentient entity. Another question, what language are most European spells?"

"Latin."

"Why?" Again the reaction was minor and indicated that Harry didn't know the answer. "Latin isn't a practiced language in daily communication, and that makes it easier for Magic to recognize what is a spell and what is simply speech."

"So new spells are translated into to Latin before they are taught?" Vector nodded quickly.

"That's right. There are exceptions of course. The packing spell for example. I believe that it was created by an American student about a hundred years ago. The spell spread amongst the students and eventually the rest of the English speaking wizards before it was translated and as such has stuck with the English pronunciation. That fact has made Magic depend greatly on the accompanying wand movement. Lesser wizards and witches must make a precise movement for the spell to work correctly."

"Okay." Harry had gotten a bit lost as was common in sessions with more than the barest bit of theoretical explanation.

"Don't worry Harry, you'll get it eventually. Teaching is what I get paid for." After her words of encouragement, Vector nearly skipped over to her blackboard. Harry groaned. She was getting excited again and that did not bode well for his headache. Scribbling what appeared to be a few incomprehensible pictographs onto the board, Vector turned back to Harry in lecture mode. "When it comes to magic Harry, everything exists in balance somehow. It maybe in a pair of opposites like proton and electron, or in triplicate, or even in very complex ways such as good and evil."

"Good and evil are balanced?"

"Yes they are. You must understand though, that the balance is over the whole world, possibly beyond it. However, that is much beyond what you need to know for our purposes. The balance in our purposes begins with chemical make up. Take water. Two Hydrogen atoms and an Oxygen atom, if split the Oxygen atom must bond with another substance to balance because a single atom of Oxygen is slightly unstable. However if you separate two molecules of water into the base elements then the equation can be balanced without an outside substance." The lecture continued much the same for the rest of the session. By the time Harry was pushed out the door, he was both suffering information overload and suffering from physical overload due to the homework Vector had given him. Books.

* * *

Upon reaching the Great Hall for breakfast, Harry felt himself under more scrutiny then usual. This was not totally unexpected, after all he was arrested last week. However, he felt that it was even more than what the trial could possibly account for. If that was possible anyway. Upon sitting down his answer was delivered in the form of a Daily Prophet sitting on the table. The headline was 'Minister Makes Statement' but the page had a large picture of himself.

_Minister Makes Statement_

_by Rita Skeeter_

_Yesterday we here at the Daily Prophet dedicated a large section of the paper to coverage of the Ministry trial of Harry Potter. Potter was dismissed at the close of the trial, though there were people both within the Ministry and without who felt his conduct was in question. Yesterday evening the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge held a press conference addressing the trial. The opinion of the Minister was made quite clear. He believed that the Wizengamot had shown to much leniency to a boy who had questioned the authority of both the Ministry and a Hogwarts' professor. He thought the Wizengamot had shown to much leniency on a boy who had incited violence in a classroom._

"_The boy shows no respect for those who disagree with him, and no respect for the Ministry." Fudge's statement was clear and uncompromising. Other Ministry personnel weighed in with the same general message. It seems clear that the consensus among Ministry insiders is that Harry Potter has gone too far. No response to the Minister's statements has been issued at the time of printing. We have to wonder if the Boy-Who-Lived will ever speak or if he will continue telling stories and creating dissent among the people._

_Story Continued Page 5 Titled "Ministry Reply"_

Harry was angry. In truth he expected the Daily Prophet to use the trial against him, but that didn't mean he wasn't annoyed by the story. More wizards would call him crazy that before. More people would die because they weren't ready.

"Argh, Fudge is an idiot!" His outburst got the attention of about half the Great Hall. Ron gave everyone who's gaze lingered for more than a couple seconds a healthy glare.

"Ignore it Harry. The Prophet will just print more if you get angry." Hermione's wise advice filtered into his brain and he attempted to calm himself.

"Hermione why don't start working on defense now? The sooner we start, the more we can cover." Harry had been wondering why Hermione wanted to wait for sometime.

"I know Harry, but please wait until the weekend." Hermione replied the same way, but it did not escape Harry's notice that she didn't actually answer the question.

"You don't wanna tell me. That means I'm probably not going to like it." Hermione quickly looked away, obviously avoiding Harry's eyes. "Great."

"It won't be that bad Harry." He wasn't reassured.

"Mate, she's probably just found a book for you to use." Harry still wasn't reassured, and Hermione was obviously angry. She stormed out moments later.

The rest of the morning progressed much like normal. Harry and Ron had lengthy naps during History of Magic, while Hermione took notes which the duo would later beg for. Then the trio headed to Potions.

* * *

When he entered the classroom, Snape wasted no time taking a potshot at Harry.

"Well if it isn't the local felon. Decided to attend class today Potter?" Harry knew that a reply would only incite further consequences so he moved past the professor and took his seat. "No reply today Potter? It seems you would know how to answer questions having plenty of experience in the last week." Harry's eyes instantly met Snape's, but he still made no reply.

"Just stay quiet Harry." He nodded. Eventually the Potions Professor moved to the front of the class and wrote a list of ingredients. With a quick "Begin." the students moved to the class cabinets. The real highlight of the class came about fifteen minutes later as Snape approached his second favorite target, Neville.

"Longbottom, what did you just do?! The professor stomped towards Neville with a fling of his coat.

BOOM! The meek Gryffindor's cauldron exploded which wasn't in itself an odd occurrence. The truly magnificent thing, at least in Harry's opinion, was the fact the cauldron exploded precisely as Snape leaned over it in order to yell at Neville. Thus concluding the greatest potions class ever as decided by the students of fifth year Gryffindor House.

Lunch and Divination proceeded much like they always did. Harry was apparently going to die in two different but similarly painful ways. Surprisingly, there were no major incidents in Defense either. Umbridge was obviously miffed at the outcome of the trial, but the class progressed in normal fashion marked by its decided lack of progress.

The only truly bizarre thing in Harry's day occurred during dinner when he spied a girl sneaking glances at him. Now, it is important to mention that while Harry was not unaccustomed to finding the eyes of girls and many times boys on him, he was unaccustomed to the look being traced back to a Slytherin. Tracey Davis was examining him extremely closely, and Harry was not wholly comfortable with that. In the end, he shrugged it off as being a result of his supposed incarceration.

* * *

After dinner, Harry was found practicing down by the lake which in itself is unimportant. The important thing is that he was found by a pair of Hufflepuffs.

"Harry?" Susan's voice dragged Harry's attention away from his practice.

"Susan?" Harry waited. "Is there something you wanted?"

"Um . . . Not exactly. I . . . er . . . we just thought to thank you . . . for agreeing to teach us. We know we kinda decided for you, but thanks." Susan was blushing the entire time and clearly uncomfortable at the moment, but Hannah had no such problems. She slapped her face before commenting.

"Ugh. Harry thanks and let us know when you're starting." The groan was accompanied by a slap of her own forehead.

"Hermione is still adamant about waiting. Hey! You wouldn't happen to know why she avoids me every single time I ask do you?" The two 'Puffs looked at each other and vigorously shook their heads. Harry raised an eyebrow in response.

"Yeah, that's believable."

"Um . . . sorry about the Daily Prophet too." That wasn't exactly a subtle attempt to change the subject, but it worked none-the-less.

"Yeah. Fudge is still making me the enemy, and people are believing him. I must have gotten thirty letters about my conduct today." He shrugged.

"We saw the owls. You should say something." The response came from Hannah, but Susan looked as if she agreed.

"I have. I said Voldemort was back." Harry ignored the winces at the name.

"You told Dumbledore; you haven't told anyone else." Susan's reply made Harry fairly angry.

"I don't wanna relive that night again. Why should I do so?"

"You shouldn't have to, but why should people believe you when Fudge is the only one talking. Dumbledore hasn't announced it to the public. Auntie says he tried with the Wizengamot, but he really hasn't done anything that Fudge hasn't been able to suppress. Fudge is the only one talking so people believe him."

The conversation ended there; neither party seemed sure what to say afterward. The three just stood beside the lake for awhile.

* * *

In other parts of the world, Amelia Bones was not having a good day. Apparently Cornelius Fudge considered her conduct at the trial base treachery. Her stance in direct opposition to the Minister's had sparked numerous visits from his lackey's talking mostly about loyalty and service to the Ministry. Her reply to such nonsense was that she served the law and any other ideas came second. Needless to say the peons Fudge sent did not take to her reasoning kindly. Thus a visit from the Minister himself was called for. Currently Amelia sits behind her imposing desk glaring none-to-subtly at the Minister.

"Cornelius, why has my office been the meeting place for your . . . employees today?" The Head of the DMLE was obviously annoyed and Fudge fidgeted under her scrutinizing look.

"Amelia, several of us are uncomfortable with your apparent lack of loyalty to the Ministry. I'm sure that you realize that the entire Ministry needs to show a bit of unity right now." The words were much more confident than the way in which they were said.

"I think the Ministry needs to obey the law. You completely overstepped your bounds as Minister."

"I am the Minister and I make the law." Amelia was now convinced that Cornelius Fudge had lost sight of reality.

"You are Minister so long as the law and the people allow. No more and no less. I would also ask that you not intervene in matters of law enforcement ever again. Any investigations or arrests go through my desk."

"He attacked a teacher! Potter is a menace!"

"She attacked him! He defended himself and in doing so proved the point of the demonstration. Do not try to twist the events of the day to me, Minister. Dawlish is now buried under a stack of paperwork so high he has to levitate himself to reach the top for taking part in your so called arrest."

"I'll have your job if you cross me Amelia! And I'll get Potter eventually! Dumbledore and anyone else he turns will be stopped!. . ." Fudge made to continue a rant worthy of an eight year old but Madam Bones decided to end the conversation there.

"Try to remove me Cornelius! I have more support in the Wizengamot right now than you do!"

The Auror division was treated to some entertainment when the Minister of Magic was bodily thrown out of the Director's office. Seeing a pudgy politician physically pushed into the hallway by an 'elderly' female was the source of great hilarity.

* * *

Matters much more dire for the Wizarding World were being contemplated in the Dark Lord's lair. Bellatrix Lestrange, the most feared witch in Britain, was sad.

"Why won't Master let me play. It has been so long. I so wish to play. Why? Why? Why? . . ."

"Because more important plans are underway." Bellatrix whirled to face her Master. Upon his sight, she immediately fell to the ground. "Rise Bella. You should learn not to question me. CRUCIO!" Pain exploded in the dark witch but she had long ago learned to accept it. Now the pain was almost a part of her. Her breath hitched as her world turned.

"I try Master, but I so long to play."

"I know you do Bella, but come and I shall show you why." With the statement made, Lord Voldemort turned and strode down the dark hallway. Bellatrix followed at a distance. One did not walk beside the Dark Lord. Always follow without question, always avoid his eyes, always submit to his will.

They walk for several minutes before arriving at the Dark Lord's private study. He opened the door and motioned her inside. Slowly she moved forward. Her eyes glued to the ground as she move past him into the room. She dared not look up.

"On the desk Bella." She moved to it and searched. Her eyes landed on a small object which she turned and read. Her mind immediately focused on the possibilities.

"It can't be. Dumbledore . . ." She was immediately cut off.

"Dumbledore is a fool. He forgets that what is his is not certain. That everyone has a price. That anyone can be mine." The man once known as Tom Riddle grinned, a truly evil sight.

"Master with this . . ." The idea of it was too much to say more. Beyond what she thought might be possible.

"I know Bella. They will be ours. The plan is in motion, but it must be done right. That is why we wait. The opportune moment will arrive and we will strike." Bella cackled unable to contain her glee. The light would be crushed and her Lord would rule.

* * *

AN: A shorter chapter this time. Delayed by another wedding btw. Last one(wedding) for the summer though. Obviously not the most exciting chapter but it moves everything forward. I also gave the first clue for the Voldemort plot line. Thanks for the reviews, next chapter will be Hogsmeade weekend.


	15. Chapter 14

I don't own Harry Potter, yada yada yada.

* * *

By the time Hogsmeade weekend finally rolled around Harry was under more than a little strain. He was convinced there was a widespread conspiracy to keep something from him. He was also convinced that Hermione was behind the existence of previously stated conspiracy. The week had all in all gone fairly well for the scarred hero; there had been no major incidents apart from the amount of work he was suddenly been given. The bright side as it were was that Hermione seemed to have finally gotten over her staunch opposition of his research and had been helping him understand some of the more complex theories laid out in the books Vector had given him.

Thus came the weekend and the first of several yearly retreats to Hogsmeade. It was also probably only one of a handful of days when Ron would wake up voluntarily. In each of these cases he also demanded that Harry get up.

"Mate! Wake up, let's go!" The anything-but-quiet tones from Harry's first friend intruded into what was a fairly good dream.

"Urgh . . . Ibe cubbing," Harry's muffled voice sounded from beneath several layers of blankets.

"No you're not. You're still there." The only reply was a growl. Since Harry's introduction to Professor Vector the weekends had oddly became a time of bountiful sleep for the boy.

In the end, Harry did get up and ready for the day. Several minutes later the trio of friends from Gryffindor tower made their way down to the front gates. Conversation about nothing at all was made as the carriages rolled along the old road between the school and the village.

* * *

The day progressed much as it usually did for the three. Zonko's was, of course, on the list as was making sure to get a generous portion of candy. The usual routine was even highlighted by an encounter with the blond greasy git which had all the hallmarks of every conversation between the Boy-Who-Lived and the Brat-Who-Needs-Shampoo-And-An-Original-Idea that had ever taken place. Such phrases as "My father . . ." and "The Dark Lord . . ." were thrown about as if Draco somehow controlled the actions of both. Harry figured that Voldemort wouldn't find such boasts amusing. Until the three entered the Hogshead, nothing had been too out of the ordinary which for Harry was, more often than not, extraordinary. That quickly changed upon view the crowd inside the rundown bar.

"You did this, I know it!" Harry's had immediately turned to Hermione and let loose a sneer worthy of the other greasy git.

"Harry, you said you would teach defense and they would like to learn it from you." Hermione attempted to talk in a placating manner, but it turned out a bit more chiding than anything else.

"I said I would teach you. I meant you, Ron, Susan and Hannah; that's four people to teach." Harry stopped and took a quick look around. "I don't know how many people are here, but it's bloody well more than four!"

"They need to learn too, Harry. Can't you just try it?" That was the end of the conversation because it was at that moment Ron nudged the two, alerting them to the stares from each and every individual within the bar. Luckily, it seemed that there were no recognizable Ministry lackies. Attempting to avoid drawing any more attention than was already apparent the three made their way to the front of the group. Hermione stepped forward, first to begin what would surely not be the most pleasant of experiences for Harry. After a quick look, which Harry answered with a short nod indicating that he would try, she began or tried to begin as it were.

"Um . . . we know why we're here. We need to lear . . ." That was all the bushy-haired brunette managed to get out because a small and decidedly feminine voice came from a decent distance behind the group.

"Sorry, I'm not to late for the meeting am I?" The group fairly well exploded. As explosive as hushed voices can be anyway. The reason was the source of the voice because entering the area was Tracey Davis. The Slytherin wasn't dressed in green, but it didn't really matter because Ron saw red.

"You can't be here! Leave! Go away and be with the other Junior Death Eaters!" The red head was fuming. Livid might be the best word to describe Harry's best mate at the sight of one of the "evil" house.

"Why not? I came for the same reason as everyone else?" Tracey wasn't one to be cowed easily, it seemed, and attempted to gain acceptance. Ron, however, was not to be denied and appealed to the person he knew would have final say.

"Harry, she's a Slytherin. She's a spy. Probably go to Umbridge as soon as we're done." Harry for his part had not reacted in any particular way and instead had observed the reactions of those around him and the subject in question. He observed the group in which some had reacted much as Ron had and almost all had expressions of obvious distrust painted on their faces. Tracey, for her part, had remained relatively calm even as she was called a Junior Death Eater which could be indicative of several things; the problem was most of those things were bad.

"Harry, can I talk to you? Alone?" The statements from the Davis girl brought Harry back to himself. He wasn't exactly sure when he and Tracey's relationship, if you could call it that, advanced to the point of being on a first name basis but he decided that it was definitely better than being called Potter.

"Don't do it mate. You can't trust her." Ron got a few words in before he reacted and those words were as predictable as Harry was in his reply.

"Er . . . yeah, Tracey." With that spoken the two retreated across the room from the group which looked on with interest. After assuring that they wouldn't be overheard Harry turned to the Slytherin girl and asked the obvious question. "Why do you want to talk to me alone?"

"Because I want to present my case to a panel who might actually care." He nodded. She was right, the majority of people in that group wouldn't care what she had to say. He would reserve judgment until he was sure because he didn't appreciate the world judging him at first glance either.

"Alright, but a few of them had points so your case better be good." Tracey nodded in reply.

"I'm a half-blood." Harry's eyes went wide. "Yeah I know. You wouldn't think it, but my mum's Muggleborn. It isn't something I advertise because of Malfoy and his goons, but it's true."

"Okay, you have my attention. I still want to know why."

"I doubt it is the same reason as everyone else is here but I don't want to die. I know that You-Know-Who is back, everyone in Slytherin does. My family isn't one that he would find useful, and I'm sure you know what that means." Harry nodded and, with the possible exception of Dumbledore, he understood Riddle better than anyone and useless was just another word for dead.

"What do you want do get from this?"

"Time." A one word answer which told Harry everything he needed to know and if that hadn't been enough, there was the significant look accompanying it. A few seconds more in battle could be the difference between living and dieing. His encounters with Voldemort and his time with the Aurors taught him that much.

"Fair enough." He nodded. "I'll let you in for now. Don't screw it up." Harry walked back to the group, and she smiled a bit.

After returning to the assembled party with a Slytherin not far behind, Harry was predictably ambushed by the obvious person.

"Harry, you can't let her in!"

"She's in." That was the end of the discussion as far as Harry was concerned. Ron thought different and continued his protests for no short amount of time. They invariably fell on deaf ears and were subsequently ignored.

The meeting continued for a fair bit of time. Signatures were taken and meeting time discussed. For the record, while the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Gryffindors had reservations about arranging meeting times around Quidditch practice; Tracey had no such reservations and stated that during Slytherin practice was entirely fine with her. Eventually the group broke to continue their weekend free of the castle.

* * *

In other parts of the world, conversations were not always so innocent. If Harry Potter were to make a list of people who he disliked the most, it would be most interesting to note that three names near the top were currently having a strategy meeting in the Ministers office. In reality, it wasn't so much of a strategy meeting as two whiners and a man who needed a good Crucio to get rid of his headache.

". . . little brat has to pay for what he did." The high pitched sounds of Cornelius Fudge's pierced the air and only served to increase the pounding inside the elder Malfoy male's head.

"I told you to wait Cornelius. Potter will not be so easily brought down. He is more protected now than ever. Dumbledore and Bones will not let him be taken down as easily as you seem to think." This was not how the Malfoy patriarch imagined spending the day when he woke up. An "emergency" meeting in the Minister's office on a Saturday ought to be more important than this.

"He cursed Dolores; he had to be punished."

"She agreed to the demonstration. She allowed Potter to manipulate her, and in doing so Potter gained more support than he had before. You were supposed to wait. I told you before, direct attacks have never been successful against him. Find something he cares about." A meaningful look accompanied the statements. This wasn't a suggestion; it was an order from a generous supporter. Cornelius Fudge had learned when it was important to assist a supporter and took the order just as Malfoy knew he would.

"Very well Lucius, I will take it under advisement. Dolores, who do you think would be the easiest to use against him?" For the first time the two men turned to the third person in the room waited for a response.

"There are several people that could be potentials. The obvious ones are his two followers, Weasley and Granger." Lucius sighed.

"And if they ever step more than twenty feet from Potter you might be able to take a shot at them. Forget his lapdogs and find someone accessible."

"Lately he's been getting close to Susan Bones and the Abbott girl." The immediate response to the second suggestion was a distinct groan from the blond man.

"You're suggesting we go after the Head of the DMLE's daughter and her best friend. I sincerely hope you're joking." He paused and looked at the toad woman. "Apparently you aren't joking. Amelia Bones is dangerous enough to what you are trying to do without giving her a reason to make it personal. A direct attack on a family member or someone she considers family will not end well."

"That's Potter's group. The only other option is the mudblood Vector," stated Umbridge. Lucius head snapped up.

"I wasn't aware that Potter took Arithmancy."

"He doesn't. He and Vector have been doing research about some such subject. They were working with raw magic the other day."

"Interesting." This was news; the Dark Lord would certainly reward him for the information. "Is Vector particularly close to anyone who could cause us problems?"

"No, and I hope that we do destroy her. She has been one of the most confrontational people in Hogwarts since my appointment," answered Umbridge, and in doing so supplied the exact answer Lucius was looking for.

"Excellent, that will give you a basis to start from. Is her relationship with Potter advanced enough to be assured of a reaction at this point."

"I doubt it. I have not heard of the two ever conversing before this year." Lucius nodded.

"Then I suggest holding off the attack for awhile. Wait until they become a bit closer. Potter is rash. He has always chosen force over cunning; he will do so again. I shall retire for now Minister."

"Very well Lucius, your presence is always welcome in my office."

Malfoy left the Ministry for even less reputable establishments, eager to relate any news of Potter to his master.

* * *

As he entered his master's room, Lucius Malfoy thought of their current situation. He longed for the days when the Death Eater's were demons of the night and the Dark Lord was feared before all others. Even now those of the Wizarding World still feared to speak his name. He longed to move again, to watch as some useless muggleborn's eyes went dead. Now, his master and his fellow Death Eaters existed only in the shadows, soon he hoped that they would fight again. He quieted his thoughts before entering the sight of his Lord. The Dark Lord had a way of knowing such thoughts, whether he needed to search for them or not.

"Lucius, you are late." Upon hearing the disappointed voice of Lord Voldemort, he immediately dropped to the ground.

"I'm sorry, Master. Fudge and the Toad needed guidance so that they would not interfere in your plans." He hoped that the answer would be sufficient to avoid punishment. His tolerance of the Cruciatus was high, but the Dark Lord had other ways of punishing failure. Ways that affected a person for days afterward.

"Will they still comply with our plans?"

"Yes Master. I instructed them to wait. They know they acted too early, and should have waited for a more opportune arrangement. I have pointed them toward the mudblood Professor. Vector."

"Is she close enough to Potter to accomplish the goal, Lucius?"

"I don't think she is, but I believe she will be soon. They are doing research together and I think that Potter's relationship with her will grow to the point he will feel the need to defend her just as he does the others."

"I hope that you are correct Lucius. It would be inconvenient if this part of the plan were to fail." Lucius winced and hoped that his plan worked and that Umbridge was right.

"It will work Master."

"It better, for your sake. Hand me your arm."

Soon the Lair was crawling with Death Eaters. Each wondered about the sudden call, but none dared to ask.

"I'm sure you are all curious about today's summoning. So I will try to alleviate your condition. I find myself feeling a bit nostalgic, and I believe I have a certain anniversary to keep. We won't be exposing ourselves quite yet; it is still too convenient to operate in secret. In the meantime, I think we should remind those still watching that I am to be feared. Remind the Boy-Who-Lived that he is only that because others died." Lord Voldemort spoke and the Death Eaters listened. So many now jumped with barely hidden excitement.

"Master what will we do?" An overeager newcomer. The inner-circle knew such an interruption would result only in pain.

"CRUCIO! It is not your place to question. I will explain to those who need to know. Answers will come to those who need them. The rest of you will do you as you are told. Only that and no more. Do you understand?" Voldemort paused. No voices came but every servant in the room nodded slowly. "Good. I'm glad to see you learning. You'll find that it is to your benefit. Several of you will have assignments. One will have a chance to prove his worth."

There was a long silence as Lord Voldemort circled the room. His gaze swept across each Death Eater as if he was weighing their worth. He probably was.

"There are several tasks to be done. Nott approach." The man stepped forward, got his instructions and then he left. After him came Goyle and so on. Each were called and received instructions that only they knew and left. One after another until only two were left. Those two being Malfoy and Snape.

"Severus, step forward." Once the man had, the man once known as Tom Riddle continued, "Severus, I find myself in need of your expertise. I require several potions to be completed within two weeks time. The first is a brew I'm sure you are exceptionally familiar with, as you invented it, the Daylight Draught. The second is a bit more rare, but I'm sure your skill will be more than up to the task. Do not fail me in this Severus." Voldemort handed a small slip of paper to the Hogwarts' professor. The man took a quick look but did not show any reaction.

"I will not fail My Lord." Snape bowed as he replied.

"See that you do not. Before you leave I wish some information."

"My Lord, I have no new information since I made my report." Lord Voldemort's nostrils flared.

"I would take care not to presume you know what I find important Severus."

"My apologies Master. What do you wish to know? I will answer to the best of my knowledge to anything you might wish to know."

"Of that I have no doubt. In any case, your first reaction was correct; you have no new information I wish to have at this moment. It is, in fact, old information I wish to know. A few weeks ago you told me that Potter had started doing research with the Arithmancy Professor Vector. I know would like you to expound on the nature of that research."

"Master, he and Vector have been researching the possibilities of transfiguring gold. I do not know what progress they have made so far. Vector has been keeping the events of their sessions to herself and I have not pressed further." A snake-like figure nodded in the darkness.

"They have surely made the same progress I made, and the same progress wizards have made for millennia. None. What is your opinion of their chances Severus?"

"It is well known what happens when such experiments are conducted. Massive failure. While Vector is undeniably a brilliant scientist despite being a mudblood, she is only a marginal witch and will therefore pass off any practical work to Potter. Potter himself is mediocre at best and his only real strength is his capacity for luck. The boy seems to be a living source of Felix Felicis. That capacity seems to overwhelm his ineptitude at the most opportune moments. Unfortunately for the two, luck will not help them in this pursuit, they will fail and, given the combination, I would expect that they will fail spectacularly." The sneer was evident on the greasy man's face. The man held enough animosity for Potter that it actually brought a small smile to the Dark Lord's face.

"I agree Severus. While I am not familiar with Vector as she came after my disappearance, you have Potter's number. Your estimation of the boy could have come from my own mouth." The nodded to his servant, who bowed in respect and thanks.

"You may go Severus."

When only Malfoy and Riddle remained, the Dark Lord moved toward his study. He motioned for Lucius to follow. Upon entering, Voldemort moved to his desk and took out some parchment. He began writing and, not long after, talking.

"Lucius, you have two tasks. The first I will give you now and the second you will receive after the first is completed."

"Whatever you ask, My Lord." Bowing seemed to be the motion of the day, or any day in the Dark Lord's lair and Lucius continued the streak.

"I know Lucius, and in this case it is only you who has a reasonable motive for being where I need you to be."

"My Lord?"

"Hogwarts or more specifically Hogsmeade. This is the first weekend out of Hogwarts is it not?"

"It is, My Lord."

"I wish you to meet your son there, as well as act the concerned Hogwarts governor. In reality you will be delivering a message for me. You will, of course, know the recipient and he will know you. I'm going to give you a message for Harry Potter."

"Potter?"

"Yes Lucius, for Potter. I believe I have his measure, but lately he has not acted as I would expect of him. Given my experiences with him I would prefer to not be surprised again. You will not threaten him or let him provoke you. He is mine. Is that understood?"

"Yes My Lord." The man sunk to the ground, acquiescing to his master's wish.

"In this instance we will find whether he is as I have surmised or if he is something more."

"Will he not take it to Dumbledore?"

"I am sure he will. That will not matter because Dumbledore will invariably be missing several of the pieces and make a guess as to the meaning. This guess will be worthless because even if it is correct, he will still not act. Dumbledore has always preferred reaction to action, and it will eventually cause his downfall. Potter is another story and he has always preferred to act."

"If I may My Lord?" Lucius waited for an indulgent nod from his master. "Which would you prefer, the action or the reaction?"

"In truth Lucius, I do not know. Dumbledore's penchant for reaction is why he failed to defeat me when he still could, but Potter's similar preference for action provides opportunity where none existed. The wise man knows his opponent better than his opponent knows himself, and I am no fool." Voldemort finished his work and transferred what he needed to a new piece of parchment and handed it to the elder Malfoy.

"I will return soon Master." A quick bow and the last of the Death Eaters exited the Dark Lord's sanctuary.

* * *

A fair distance away several of the dismissed Death Eaters began their assignment. It seemed that the Dark Lord was being even more secretive than normal because while it appeared that each Death Eater got a single assignment at least a couple of them had received the same one. The assignment was to pierce the wards, stun anyone inside, and steal several magical items. Masks were to be worn so no identification could be made and under no circumstances were they to send up the Dark Mark.

"Nott, you ready?"

"Patience Mulciber. If you think you can take down these wards quicker then I invite you to try."

"Just get it done." Gruff as always. Certain things never changed and the general temperament of most Death Eaters was one of those things. A wave passed by each man signaling the fall of the wards and they rushed into the house.

"One at the right side stun her. Another run into the back."

"Got her."

"Ah! One to the left. Stupefy!"

"Room's clear. Get the runner before he calls for help. I'll start the search."

"I'll get him. You two search; this shouldn't take long."

The operation went off without a hitch. The house contained only the three people; the third was found hiding a few minutes later. They found several items in the search and they left just ten minutes after arriving as several sounds denoting Apparition came from the street outside. None of them had been seen without a mask and therefore none could be positively identified.

* * *

While that operation took place, Harry and crew were doing the rounds in Hogsmeade. Each was relaxing in the presence of the others. They had now visited each shop of interest and were simply enjoying a free day away from school.

"Potter, if I might have a word?" The group turned to see Lucius Malfoy standing in the street. Seeing no wand drawn and it being the middle of the day with no less than twenty bystanders, Harry had no problem answering.

"What do you want Malfoy?"

"Potter, you really should show a bit more respect. Still, I have been asked to deliver a message to you." Lucius pulled the parchment from his pocket. Harry hesitated. "Really Potter, nothing ill will come from this delivery. It is, after all, broad daylight in a crowded street. I should think some one might notice if **the** Harry Potter suddenly disappeared."

"I doubt that would stop Voldemort from trying."

"You might be right. Should that be what he wanted, but I assure you that is not the purpose on this day. If it will make you feel better. Finite Incantatem." Lucius had pulled his wand and clearly cast the spell on the parchment. Nothing happened. Harry wasn't so gullible as to think that would end any charm.

"The revealing charm as well."

"Ostendo! Are you satisfied? No? A Magical Oath then? On my magic I swear that no ill consequences will befall Harry Potter for touching, opening, or reading this parchment. Actions that he may take after touching, opening, or reading this parchment are not covered so long as they are not under my direction. Any actions unrelated to this parchment are also not covered. So mote it be."

"So mote it be." The wands sparked and connected for a couple seconds signaling the completion of the oath.

"So you are familiar with Magical Oaths, Potter. I must say that surprises me." Harry grabbed the parchment from Malfoy before answering.

"I'm sure a lot of what I know would surprise you."

"I believe it might indeed. Farewell Harry Potter. I have other business today."

Harry waited for several minutes after Malfoy had departed before turning to the parchment again. He opened it slowly still a bit paranoid about such things.

_Harry Potter, I understand that you_

_are attempting to use your mind a bit_

_more. Let's see if that mind is worth_

_using. Today, I have made the opening_

_move. We will see if you move to match._

_15,2,8,28,54,16 – 56,57,7,58_

_44,34_

_53 – 74,53,7_

There was no doubt of the source. The note had come directly from Voldemort and that meant something bad was happening.

"Harry, you have to get that to Dumbledore." Hermione was the first of the group to recover; she had read the note over Harry's shoulder and was now almost pushing him back toward Hogwarts. So they ran.

The trip back was made in complete silence as each person considered the note. Harry read it over and over again. He hoped that he might pick some clue from the page. Something he was missing, but the note gave him nothing new. Upon reaching the front gates, it appeared that fortune was with them as McGonagall met the trio.

"I didn't expect any students back quite so early."

"Professor we need to speak to Headmaster Dumbledore immediately." Hermione was of course the first to speak.

"The Headmaster is quite busy Ms. Granger. He does not have time for meaningless chats."

"Professor, Voldemort sent me a note." That got the professor's attention and almost before Harry could blink he was being push toward the Headmaster's office. Ron and Hermione were left in McGonagall's wake. In fact, Harry was more than a little surprised at how quickly the woman moved. It seemed no time at all before he was pushed past the guardian and up the stairs. He was at the outer door before he realized that his friends were no longer with him.

"Harry, I daresay I was not expecting you today. You may enter when you please." Dumbledore's voice sounded from inside. Harry once again resolved to figure out exactly how the Headmaster did that. Sighing he entered and found the elder wizard sitting behind the large wooden desk at the center of the room. "Now Harry, what might I do for you today?"

"Sir, I got a note . . . from Voldemort." Now it was Albus's turn to show energy unexpected from one of such . . . vintage.

"Give it here Harry. What does he want?" Harry quickly handed the note to the professor who examined at length.

"It says that he has made the first move, and that he is waiting for mine. What move would I make?"

"I do not know Harry. This message is most disturbing. I have never seen Tom take such a personal interest in something before. Do you have an idea?"

"No sir." Dumbledore copied the note twice and handed one copy back to Harry.

"It was meant for you so take this. I will keep the original in a safe place. It might be a trick and should be treated as such."

"Yes sir. The numbers sir, do you know what they mean?"

"No Harry I don't. Tom has not, to my knowledge, ever sent an encoded message to an enemy and the fact that he sent such a message to you is. . ." For the first time since Harry had known him, words seemed to escape the Great Albus Dumbledore and the look Harry received was one that shook him to the bones. Voldemort taking an even deeper interest in himself was something he would rather avoid.

"I under. . ." Harry was interrupted by a buzzing emanating from the Headmaster's desk. Dumbledore went to inspect and, after a short moment, turned back to Harry.

"It seems that Tom was not bluffing. He has indeed made the first move. Several Order members were attacked and one managed to send an SOS as the Muggles call it. Stay here Harry, we will converse when I return." And then he left.

* * *

AN: Ah this chapter has been a long time coming. Not an easy chapter to write, but it is done and that is what counts. I want to address several things so I'll get to those soon enough. First however, I would like to thank people for all the reviews I've gotten since I last posted. I do appreciate it.

First, the Godmother. I answered this earlier but it subsequently got deleted so I'll do so again. Is Amelia the Godmother? I'm not telling. Is McGonagall the Godmother? I'm not telling. I would like to point out that Lily might have had female friends at Hogwarts maybe. Anyway that storyline is done for the time being. There will be an event in the future that restarts it but for now it is done.

Second, slow moving story. Seriously I don't do that to piss people off. I actually have a reason and I'll give a smiley to the first person who can guess it. The good dr. I know you have a sarcastic answer and I'll give you a token haha right now so you don't have to type it.

Third, Voldemort smart, Harry dumb. Not really no. Voldy's more cerebral yes. So is Harry. But in this story there is no silver bullet. Power, Knowledge, Courage, Wits, Luck, Planning, Experience, Size, Shape, and any number of other things are potentially important.

Last a fair point which I just want to address for the fun of it. There was a comment on stopping the experiment from being a Hiroshima or a Chernobyl. My answer is that you have to consider the relative sizes of these reactions. The Hiroshima bomb had (I believe) about 60 kg of U-235 and we're talking about a needles mass substituted into a reaction that is closer to radioactive decay than fission or fusion. They might have a little energy discharge to deal with but nothing that won't be manageable.


	16. Chapter 15

I have never owned anything remotely relevant to Harry Potter including the books. Okay I have one of the movies geez.

* * *

"Harry stop. I don't know what's up with you today but you need to focus. It's like you're on Mars this week. What is going on?" Harry shrugged. The last week had not gone well for the research duo. They had made very little progress and Harry knew that it was his fault. The fact was he was always thinking about other things. His "study group" was taking up a fair bit of time, but the note from Voldemort had become an obsession. The meaning had not presented itself yet. Even Dumbledore had not discerned the meaning yet, at least as far as Harry knew.

". . . Sorry. I just can't seem to concentrate this week." Vector sighed.

"Harry, I know that you have things that are more urgent than this on your plate, but you agreed to help. I would like for you to be able to set aside whatever else you're thinking about while you are here. I realize that is no small task, but if something is so important that you need to put our research aside for awhile. . ." Septima trailed off without finishing that thought. "Do you wish to postpone our sessions until you feel you can put forth more effort?"

"No. No, I can do this." Harry assured the professor. In truth, he figured it would be better to concentrate on other things for the time being, but he didn't want to let Vector down.

"Alright. Let's take a bit of a break then, and in a few minutes we'll try again. I noticed that there has been an unnatural amount of whispering lately, particularly from those who could be considered close to you. I won't ask what you're doing Harry and I'm sure you are smart enough to figure out why. Get your group to be a bit more discrete; Umbridge might be slow, but she will notice eventually." Harry was a bit surprised. It was true that those who had come to the Hogshead were grouping a bit more closely than usual, but he figured that it would be overlooked a bit more.

"I understand," Harry replied, and he did understand.

"Good. Now about subjects a bit more entertaining. I saw Dolores with a bizarre sign on her back the other day. I don't suppose you had anything to do with it did you?"

"Not at all." Harry's grin; however, said differently.

"I figured as much. I also thought it was rather funny that even Minerva couldn't remain composed long enough to inform her of it." Harry was trying to contain his laughter . . . really he was. He had been present when his dear Head of House attempted to enlighten the toad.

"I have no knowledge of any such activities which involved . . ." An interruption came from the sound of an opening door and the unfortunate appearance of said Defense Professor.

"Hem, hem. Such a delight to return, Septima. I realized that I never got a chance to observe the sessions between you and Mr. Potter. Being the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, I think that is an incredible oversight."

"I doubt that is a recent realization, but I hope you find it a bit easier to not distract either myself or Harry. I think our break is over Harry. Why don't we get back to work." Vector and Harry rose and moved back to their current project. "Are you ready Harry?"

"I'm ready."

"Alright, start at a half power and then step down in as small increments as you can." Harry nodded and began the process he and Professor Vector had laid out. Well . . . he attempted to.

"Hem, hem." Both remaining occupants of the room groaned quietly. "I'm sorry Septima, but don't you think several safety precautions before such dangerous magic is practiced?"

"Dolores, do you think my mental capacity is abnormally low?" Vector's reply was said with more than a little sarcasm.

"Well what am I supposed to think, Professor Vector? I see no barrier set up for your protection during such a dangerous experiment."

"Dolores, do you know what raw unfocused magic does when it encounters wards?" Harry perked up a bit. Septima had discussed this subject with him at length . . . several times.

"I'm no warding expert but I don't believe it would have an adverse effect."

"Harry would you care to enlighten our High Inquisitor?" He nodded eagerly.

"It depends on the wards and the origin of the magic. Wards need to be powered and the power source would need to be as powerful as what it needs to ward against. Wards cast with the express purpose of reducing magical feedback would then need a source powerful enough to contain that feedback. The result would be that any effect of feedback would be transferred to the source. The source would experience a large power drain and, if the wards were overcome, an incredible power surge would occur. Given such a drain there are only two possible anchors in Hogwarts. The first possible anchor would be a witch or wizard. The power drain for those wards could potentially kill a living anchor and feedback surge would surely kill such a subject. The second option would be to power the wards with the magic permeating Hogwarts itself. In that case the wards would be highly powerful due to the amount of natural magic in the castle. However, because we are using raw magic in our experiment the wards would simply use any such magic we used to power themselves. Our magic would be indistinguishable from Hogwarts' own which is also raw and unfocused."

"What are we doing to protect ourselves then, Harry?"

"We are using physical protections instead of magical ones. This approach overcomes the limitation of wards. Wards by design work against something. Instead of working against the magic we are using, we are working with it. Redirecting it to a safe place."

"In other words Dolores, this block is a conductor which diverts Harry's raw magic output and disperses it safely into the much larger magical reserve of Hogwarts." Umbridge scowled when the two finished. It was obvious that the woman did not like to be lectured as if she was a mere school student.

"I do not need to be lectured, Septima. You could have said that you had taken precautions and that would have alleviated my concerns. I take the welfare of Hogwarts' students very seriously." Harry silently added an expression of doubt.

"In that case Dolores, we will continue and I do hope you can understand that Harry and I have done the appropriate research and taken the appropriate precautions to conduct our experiments." Septima's smile oozed condescension.

"Very well." After Umbridge's reply, Harry began the process again. He actually got started before his most hated, having recently usurped Snape for the position, professor intervened again.

"Hem, hem. If I may? I was just wondering what your current experiment had to do with your goal of transfiguring Gold?" Vector looked several seconds from pulling her wand before taking several deep breaths and replying.

"That is a good question Dolores, come over here and let me explain. If you wish to observe in the future, it would be good that you understood the reasons behind our procedures. At that point Vector half dragged the toad toward her chalk board and began a lengthy and in-depth explanation of quantum mechanics. After the tenth minute passed and Vector showed no sign of stopping soon, Harry subtly motioned towards the door. Vector gave an almost imperceptible nod in affirmation.

Harry's departure gained no sign of acknowledgment from the other "teacher" in the room, an occurrence Harry was unconditionally grateful for. As Harry moved to the door, he briefly glimpsed Umbridge who roughly resembled a spoiled head of cabbage as she failed to comprehend the elegance of quantum mechanics. Not so silently but quickly none-the-less, the Boy-Who-Lived made his way to breakfast where he joined the Gryffindors in a grand tale of his morning so far.

* * *

Much of the morning went fairly normally for Harry, though he had a fairly innocent altercation with Snape. Luckily it did not result in any detentions only a loss of five points. Harry decided that was a win, but wondered how Gryffindor ever managed to stay in House Cup contention with his almost daily point losses. He then reconsidered that thought and decided it was probably only two to three times a week. Further thought was driven from his mind with the arrival of lunch.

Upon reaching his normal spot, Harry started his lunch ritual for the week. Interestingly this ritual had nothing to do with eating and everything to do with staring at a small bit of parchment. He idly wondered if he should ask Trelawny to divine the secrets of the parchment, but he dismissed the idea figuring that she would say that it spelled great danger and signs of death. He was pretty sure of that already and didn't need confirmation from such a questionable source. His ritual this week had not gone without notice. Although his friends had not pointed it out yet they were becoming increasingly worried about Harry's apparent obsession with the note. Hermione, being who she was, decided that enough was enough.

"Harry, you've been staring at that note every day this week. I don't remember you eating lunch at all. What is so important that you need to spend so much time reviewing it? He sent it to you Harry. It can't be good. You should just let Professor Dumbledore take care of it." Hermione's admonishing startled Harry from his task and he was nearly dragged kicking and screaming from his reverie.

"Yeah mate. Why don't you eat? Dumbledore'll figure it out." Ron added with his mouth nearly overflowing. Several "ewws" were heard from the table, and they were not heard from only those of the female persuasion.

"Er. . . I don't know. I think that Voldemort wants me to figure it out. Me." He knew that Hermione was right that he shouldn't obsess like he was, but he had a gut feeling that it was important.

"I don't like it Harry. I don't think any good will come of it, even if you break the code." Harry actually agreed with that statement, but either way he had to try.

Nothing more came of the conversation. Eventually Harry did eat, much to the relief of his friends. At the end of the period, Harry had still not made anymore progress and had gained no more insight then he had when the note was delivered. The afternoon was no different.

* * *

On the bright side, the first meeting of Harry's study group was that afternoon. It was scheduled for an hour after dinner, during the Slytherin Quidditch practice. After several days of searching, it was Dobby who had finally provided a location worth using. The Room of Requirement was uniquely suited for the task and Harry was amazed at it's abilities. It reminded him of the situation room at the ministry only more advanced as this room needed no previous scenarios, at least as far as he knew, to function. All the room seemed to need was purpose, which Harry had.

On this day, as the Sun began to set, students representing each of Hogwarts' houses descended on the room to learn from The Great Harry Potter. Harry was, unsurprisingly, very nervous. He thought he had plans enough for the group, but he had no idea how the plans would be received. After selection of a leader and a decision on the name of the group, Harry was ready to begin. Sort of.

"Alright . . . Er . . . I guess we'll begin now. I've decided on what we're gonna do in here and it won't just be learning spells and dueling. That stuff is all well and great, but it probably won't be the stuff that saves your life."

"What are we gonna do then?" The Hufflepuff Harry would most like to strangle spoke from the back of the room.

"I'm getting to that. I decided that I'll try to teach one spell a week and also work on the stuff I'm betting will save your life if you are ever attacked. First I want to say that the first instinct that all of you should have right now is to run." Harry was again interrupted but this time he couldn't make out the source.

"Run? We aren't cowards!" General agreement from the assembled party followed the exclamation.

"I'm not saying that you are, but you aren't truly ready to fight at this point in your lives."

"What about you? You don't run!" Another voice and still no source.

"I don't? What do you think I did in the third task. I was dueling Voldemort and I didn't beat him. If I'm here then one of us had to retreat. The first thing I want you to learn is to survive. Getting killed doesn't help anyone." Harry would like to take credit for his speech, but most of it was stolen from Amelia while he in her custody. "Most of what I'm going to teach you will be targeted to buy you time. Time to escape or time enough for help to arrive." He finished with a nod at Tracy and she returned his gesture.

"Are you even going to teach us to fight or just to escape?" Smith questioned Harry again, and Harry questioned to himself why Zacharias had even come.

"Yes I will. Much of our time will also be spent on combat. First things first though. I want to start out with Expelliarmus which has been extremely helpful in the past."

"The disarming charm? How will help us against You-Know-Who?"

"To him it's a distraction, and I've used it against him. Saved my life. Is that sufficient explanation?" The reaction he got told Harry that it was indeed sufficient explanation of his choice of the first spell. He instructed the people to group up and start practicing it on each other. The members quickly paired off with two notable exceptions, Luna Lovegood and Tracey Davis. Harry smiled to himself. He didn't know either well, but he thought that it would be good for them to be paired together. "Luna, why don't you pair up with Tracey?"

"Okay Harry." The spacey tones of the odd girl sounded before she skipped over to Tracey. The Slytherin gave Harry a decent glare in response. Harry's own response, a raise of an eyebrow, silenced any forming objection and the girl nodded.

Harry spent a little time going around the room correcting any faults that he saw. Neville seemed to be having the most trouble but with a quick signal to his partner, even he was able to cast it correctly.

"Alright. That was alright, but I know you can do better so keep going." His instruction wasn't well received but the group did as he asked anyway. Harry continued around the room. The group continued to improve and he moved quickly through the groups. When he came around to Cho and Marietta, he felt the distinct flutter in his stomach. Curiously it wasn't quite as all-encompassing as it had been the previous year, but it was definitely still present. Cho seemed to be more flustered than he was as she began mispronouncing Expelliarmus rather comedically.

"I can do the spell; I'm just a bit nervous when you're watching." Cho smiled sheepishly.

"I know you can. I saw you performing it earlier and you were just fine." Harry returned the smile. He looked at the clock before speaking to the class. "Alright everyone, I think that is enough spell practice for the night. We still have a bit of time left so I want you guys to do a bit of dodging practice. Have your partner throw Tickling Jinx's at you. Dodge them. Each time a person is hit, you switch."

While casting of spells was basically good, dodging was horrible. It seemed most everyone's first instinct in a dueling situation was not to move. Instead most of the casters looked as if they should be up on a platform, or worse, a balance beam.

Twenty minutes of Harry attempting, with moderate success, to correct his stationary students resulted in a decent headache. He figured that was long enough for the day and decided to dismiss everybody. A quick look at the Marauder's Map told him that no one was there to become suspicious. As students filtered out, Harry stayed to straighten up the room and put away the whistle the room had thankfully supplied. When he was finished, he exited as well, only to find himself in the presence of Cho who had waited outside the door for him to leave.

"Harry."

"Cho?"

"I just . . . I just wanted to thank you. For teaching us." Cho smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, you're welcome." Both fidgeted for several moments, unsure of how to continue.

"I, uh, think it's really great of you Harry." Cho stepped a bit forward. Harry was now the nervous one.

The private moment was not to be though. At that moment, an owl approached Harry and delivered it's parcel. The letter was dropped on the top of Harry's head and the owl did not even bother to stop. Surprised Harry picked up the fallen letter and thought nothing of opening it. After a quick read, Harry's head snapped to the sky.

"I'm such a wanker. Uh Cho, I gotta go." And Harry was off. Sprinting down the corridor leaving a disappointed girl in his wake. He headed down to Vector's office, nearly trampling several second years in his haste. Luckily, no one was severely injured. He also did not bother to slow down as he entered the office. The door was thrown open with a loud crack.

"Ah." CRASH "Oomph, oww." Vector had been startled out of her chair upon Harry's entrance and gravity deposited her on the floor in a rather undignified heap. Papers that had previously been in the process of being graded began to rain from the sky. "Harry . . . ugh . . . to what do I owe your presence? Oww." The professor began to climb back to her feet.

"Do you have a table of the elements?" The ruffled woman sent a questioning look. After all, he didn't even seem to notice her plight.

"A periodic table? Do you need one?" Harry nodded excitedly. Sighing, she began to shuffle through papers in her desk. Eventually a piece of parchment was pulled out and she handed it to the source of her predicament.

"Thanks." Harry promptly sat down and cleared a small spot for himself, on Vector's desk. He pulled out the both notes and reread the second, assuring himself that he was indeed correct.

_Harry, I find myself_

_disappointed. I have_

_provided this Golden_

_opportunity and each_

_day you waste it away._

_15,2,8,28,54,16-56,57,7,58_

_85,73,6,19-8,7_

_74,13,4,6,19-57,10 _

"Some one sent you a coded message?" Harry turned at Septima's voice and gave her a significant look. "He sent you a coded message." Harry nodded in response. He handed the first note to Septima. "What does the code have to do with the periodic table?"

"Each number corresponds to an element and I think that element's symbol is part of the code."

"Brilliant. Since the periodic table is information coming from mostly Muggle sources, it is reasonable to assume that most wizards would have little chance to solve the puzzle. Interesting that the leader of the Pureblood prejudice would use such a code though."

"That isn't the half of it." Vector waited for Harry to continue but he did not. Instead he got back to work on the second coded message. Septima did likewise on the first.

"Each one represents an element. 15, Phosphorous, P. 2, Helium, He. 8 . . . So that makes the whole code, P He O Ni Xe S – Ba La N Ce, Phoenixes Balance. Do you have any idea what that means Harry?"

"He's referring to our wands. That line appears in both messages but I don't know why." Harry looked stumped.

"He's using it as a primer phrase. A phrase that tells you that the code is broken. These messages are so short, they potentially could be decoded into more than one possibility so he left a clue to the correct one. Apparently he wants you to break at least these two messages." Septima looked back at her piece before continuing. "44,34 which corresponds to the elements Ruthenium and Selenium. Ru Se. Ruse. The last line is 53-74,53,7 which spells out I win when you translate it." Harry was not paying attention to his own parchment at this point and was instead listening to Vector's musings. He spoke up when she seemed lost in thought.

"Ruse, so something is either fake or a distraction." Vector nodded.

"What about the phrase "I win" Harry?"

"It's his arrogance. Every time we fight, he declares victory before the battle is even fought. It's part of why I'm still alive."

"How about the second message, Harry?"

"I've only got the second line so far. 85,73,6,19-8,7 translates to At Ta C K – O N. The last line is 74,13,4,6,19-57,10 which is W . . . Al . . . Be . . . C . . . K . . . La . . . Ne. Walbeck Lane."

"Attack on Walbeck Lane. Straight forward in meaning, but I don't recognize the address. Do you?" Harry shook his head in response.

"I suggest you relay the information to the Headmaster. He may be able to make more sense of it." Vector quickly took both notes and wrote down the decoded messages on the respective parchment. They were then handed back to Harry.

"Thanks for your help." He began to depart.

"You're welcome Harry."

* * *

The walk to Dumbledore's office was decidedly less eventful then the run to Vector's. Harry was nearly alone in the corridors. Approaching the guardian, Harry realized that once again he did not know the password.

"I need to talk to him." Nothing. "Come on. Lemon Drops." Still nothing. For several minutes Harry guessed sweet after sweet, both magical and muggle. Eventually Harry was able to pass the Golem the right password being Milky Way. By that time, however; Harry's steam had run out and he slowly made his way up the staircase.

"Harry I must say, you have a knack for unexpected appearances. You may enter when ready." Harry resolved to find out how Dumbledore did that . . . again.

"I figured it out. It has to do with the periodic table. The first message is Phoenixes . . ."

"Balance. Ruse. I win. Obviously Tom's ego has gotten the best of him again. One cannot declare victory before the snitch is caught as it were." Dumbledore smiled behind his beard.

"You knew?"

"I daresay Harry, this is not my first coded message. It took some time but eventually I discerned what Tom was referencing."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought that you might want to solve it yourself; it was after all sent to you." Harry accepted that. He was glad that he had done it.

"He sent me another message today, sir." Dumbledore rose and Harry handed both pieces of parchment over.

"Ah, so he did. It also appears that you have already decoded this one. Phoenixes Balance. Attack on Wal . . ." That was as far as the great wizard got. He quickly looked to his desk, looking at nothing or so it appeared to Harry. "Harry, I must go. I ask that you stay here for a few minutes. I will return." Dumbledore moved to the floo.

"Sir, what's going on?"

"I can't tell you that now Harry. In time you will know." Dumbledore was gone and Harry was left to wait.

Harry sat down and waited. He thought about what might be going on, each scenario worse than the last. And still, he waited.

Eventually a flash in the fire signaled Dumbledore's return. He looked slightly ruffled and appeared to be oblivious of Harry's presence in the room.

"Sir?"

"Harry, my boy you're still here. Good. It appears that there has been no attack yet anyway. I also alerted several Order members to the newest message. Preparations are in place."

"What preparations?" Harry was hoping that eventually he might get a few answers from the Headmaster, but it seemed that was not to be.

"I cannot tell you that Harry. Many secrets must be kept in the strictest confidence, especially when they are not my secrets to keep."

"Okay. Then why did you have be stay here."

"I feel that we should talk of these messages. What is their meaning? More importantly, why is Tom sending them to you?" Dumbledore paused and waited for Harry to speak.

"I don't know sir." The notes were handed back to Harry.

"Take a look Harry, read the notes and see if you can find a reason within the lines or possibly between them." Harry spent about a minute looking at the notes, trying to divine their purpose.

"He says that he's trying to test me in the first one. Is that what it is." Dumbledore nodded.

"Testing you is what he's doing, but it isn't why Harry."

"He's testing me because . . . he doesn't know what I'm capable of." The older wizard brightened at Harry's response.

"That's what I believe Harry. He wants to know exactly how capable you are, so that you don't surprise him next time." Harry was now the one to nod. It made sense. Each time they had met, something Harry had done had surprised Voldemort.

"Then is it better to solve the puzzles and prove that I'm capable or let them go? If these are clues to his plans then solving them could be important."

"That is the question, Harry. How do we use any information Tom gives us without revealing that we had it. There is, of course, the possibility that Tom is using these messages as misdirection."

The two sat in silence.

* * *

Later that night, a meeting had been called. The Order of the Phoenix was meeting to discuss the current situation. Albus Dumbledore, the leader of the group, spoke first.

"I have called this meeting because Lord Voldemort has made a move that is most disturbing. He has begun sending coded messages to Harry Potter."

"As if the Potter Brat had the intellect to deserve such consideration," stated Severus Snape. Dumbledore sighed under his breath. Severus's continuing feud with a dead man was tiring to say the least.

"Shut up about my Godson, Snivelous." That set off another round of Marauder's verses Snape. Luckily it was derailed before any wands were drawn.

"Gentlemen, if we could get back to the situation at hand. There have been, at present, two such messages. The first was cryptic with very little helpful information, but the second was decidedly more informative." Copies were passed around the assembled party.

"What is the ruse described in the first one Albus?"

"That I do not know. I have looked to see if any of Voldemort's recent actions have been distractions for some other action, but as of yet I have not found any. I am, therefore, forced to conclude that either it has not happened yet or it will become more clear in time." Everyone in the room nodded slightly in response. Nothing could be done about that message right now.

"What about the second message? The meaning is obvious, are precautions being taken." Kingsley spoke for the first time that night.

"I have already done so. They have been informed and I have set wards to alert us if anything should happen on the premises. In the meantime I feel that there is little more that we can do but wait."

"What about Harry, are you going to tell him?" questioned Sirius.

"Not at present. There is nothing that he can do, and he already has much too much responsibility."

"He deserves to know what these messages mean. They are being sent to him after all."

"He will be told in due time." Dumbledore was nothing if not stubborn.

"It isn't right."

* * *

AN: Another chapter done. Several things happened in this chapter. The first appearance of Cho who I left out earlier because I thought she would be more of a distraction than anything else. Second, congratulations to those who decoded the first message. I'm also glad that you let me get away with the fact I couldn't quite spell phoenixes correctly. I digress. I don't know how many of these puzzles I'm going to do, several anyway. The plan is that they will get progressively harder, but I have to create them first and believe me creating a reasonable code is a bit of a task.

I also substituted Luna for Neville as the odd person out in DA because it just seems to make more sense to me. Plus think of the fun I can have using conversations between Tracey and Luna. The Slytherin and the . . . Luna.

Thanks for the reviews all of you.


	17. Chapter 16

Harry Potter and any characters, events, ideas depicted in universes beyond those that pertain directly to the idea of the Golden Needle are not in any way, shape, or form owned by me. _DUH!_

* * *

Nearly two weeks after the arrival of the first note from Voldemort, Harry Potter found himself in an increasingly familiar position. He was once again sitting across from an overly cheerful mathematician while staring intently at a small piece of glass. He had been doing this, or something similar, every weekday morning for as long as he cared to think about. In truth he was beginning to develop a not so healthy dislike of small glass items and the fragility that such items tended to have.

CRACK. Harry let out the breath he had unconsciously been holding. A thin connection had been broken on the cube like structure, but the rest remained intact.

"Fantastic Harry. You're making excellent progress. You haven't shattered a cube this week." Vector patted him on the back and moved to her office, presumably to retrieve an even smaller model. He idly thought she might be hiding some coffee or some other caffeine enriched beverage. Her step was unusually light today. "Don't forget to repair it Harry." The voice startled him from his train of thought and he did as the professor asked.

"Done."

"Good. Well Harry, I believe we are beginning to reach the limit of our models and it is time we begin thinking of how to jump to a scale beyond your sight." Vector talked as she returned seemingly empty handed.

"How will I change something that I can't see?"

"Well, as we discussed before Harry, I don't know. There are no records of anyone ever attempting anything on the scale of what we will attempt. In fact, more often than not, wizards tend to push the other extreme." A playful grin found its way to the professor's face, and Harry groaned. "Just a joke Harry, lighten up. Luckily you have other senses than just your eyes. I believe Magic will help us with much of this, but that is simply a guess."

"How will magic help us? I don't understand."

"Harry, have you been practicing what we do in your other classes as I asked?" He hesitated before nodding. "Did you notice any differences in the way each kind of magic felt?" Harry thought Vector might be going a bit bonkers at this point.

"Felt? But magic is magic." Vector chuckled a bit at Harry's response.

"Yes it is, but electricity and heat are both forms of energy. Do they feel the same? Do wood and metal feel the same? For that matter, do Ash and Holly feel the same?" She waited for his indication in the negative and then continued. "Then why would Transfiguration feel the same as Charms?"

"I guess I never thought to pay attention to it," stated Harry while shrugging a bit.

"Why don't you try it now then? Transfigure that stool into something else and then describe what you felt. Both physically and mentally." Harry nodded and did so.

"It felt . . . like . . . like I had just finished working and was a little proud of what I'd done. My body felt loose and . . ." Whatever else Harry might have felt escaped description. Any words simply felt inadequate for the feeling.

"Alright, sounds like you aren't quite used to it. Not surprising. Some more practice and you might have a better handle on what you feel. Why don't you try that magnificent Patronus of yours and we'll see what that does." Harry nodded.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" The emergence of a silver stag signaled the spell, but Harry was already looking inward, trying to pinpoint that feeling. It felt fantastic. He quickly ended the spell. "I feel great. My whole body feels good. Like I'm ready to play a quidditch match." Vector only nodded.

"I'm not surprised. The spell is based on of all your positive feelings so it stands to reason those feelings would be spread throughout your whole being." The Arithmancy Professor looked pleased at Harry's progress so far.

"Could this be used if you were in battle? I mean if you were getting tired and hurt, would it help?"

"I imagine it would to an extent, yes. It would not remove some pain such as wounds but if your muscles were getting tired, I think that it would help." Harry was unsurprisingly excited by this revelation. During a long battle it would be extremely helpful to be able to remove even a little fatigue.

"Are there any other spells that might provide the same feeling?"

"I would imagine that there are similar spells, but you must remember that the feeling comes from your connection to magic and that because you are so strongly connected to magic, you will feel the effects of spells more strongly than lesser wizards and witches. Both the positive and negative effects will be amplified."

"So a negative feeling would be harsher on me than it would Ron or Hermione." It was not said as a question and Vector did not answer.

"Spells, wards and other such things are easy to fell once you know how. Other things are much more difficult. Feeling the magic of an object can be much more difficult." Septima reached into her pocket and pulled out what she had presumably went into to her office to retrieve. It looked like a block of lead to Harry. "This is an Enchanter's Cube, Harry."

"A what?"

"An Enchanter's Cube. In reality, it is simply a metal cube containing a significant amount of magical energy. Wizards tend to name everything so it seems more mystical than it really is." Harry snorted. He had noticed that particular characteristic. He was, after all, _the _Boy-Who-Lived. "Yes, I thought you might find that part amusing. The Enchanter's Cube has been used to train apprentice enchanters for a significant part of Wizarding History. In order to successfully enchant something you must know what you are attempting to do. In our case, you will just need to be able to identify the substance you are trying to change from and to. However, that means you'll need a frame of reference first. A large amount of raw magical energy is encased in this block."

"So you want me to be able to manipulate an object based on the feel of its magic." Harry believed he understood where Vector was going, and as it so happens he did.

"That's right. I said we would need to find a way for you to make the leap to the atomic scale and I believe this is how we will be able to do it. I believe that with the control you have already gained and with continuing improvement you will be able to identify even the smallest amount of gold, provided you learn to recognize it. Why don't you give it a try?"

Harry found that successfully feeling and identifying an object's magic was much more difficult than it sounded in theory. Never-the-less, the duo continued their attempts for the remaining research time.

* * *

Meanwhile, a most relevant conversation was taking place in the Headmaster's office. That morning, Albus Dumbledore had called Harry's most hated Professor, Severus Snape, to talk about a subject guaranteed to bring a sneer to the greasy one's face--Harry Potter. Fortunately for Snape, that was not the only subject that the Headmaster wished to discuss.

"Severus, do come in. I believe you have been standing on the stairs quite long enough." The professor entered and did not look pleased to be there. It seemed that he did have at least one thing in common with Harry; neither was a morning person.

"You wished to speak with me?" Snape's tone was decidedly uninviting.

"I did, Severus. Lemon Drop?" After the Potions Master's declined, Dumbledore took one of his own sour treats and placed his hands atop the desk. "Have you made any progress discerning the use of the second potion yet?"

"Nothing significant. I have ruled out any type of poison. The potion could be taken by wizards as well as vampires, werewolves and any other human species that I'm aware of without being toxic. The exact use, however, escapes me. I have never seen any potion which includes more than half of these ingredients. Those that include more than three have such a wide range that I have no way of guess the result without testing."

"And we cannot safely do that without knowing the target species." Dumbledore finished his professor's thought. "Have you found any clue to the potion's origin or do you still believe this is one of Voldemort's creations."

"I have checked every rare Potion's text in the castle and none of them include anything remotely similar. There are several ancient texts I would like to check, but I doubt the German, French or even our own Ministry would be in a mood to share them." Dumbledore nodded.

"You would be correct in that assumption. I have already made inquiries through some of my own contacts and they were much the same. The Americans were the most inviting and that in itself is not a good sign." The potions professor agreed; the American Department of Magic's isolationist ways were well known.

"I see. Then my opinion on the source has not changed."

"Very well. Please continue working on it." A scowl came from the man in black. "You will be delivering the Dark Lord's portion during tonight's meeting, will you not?"

"I will." An uncomfortable silence fell in Hogwart's top office before Snape became impatient. "Is that _all_ you wished to know?"

"Severus, my boy, I do hope you are less cheerful to others on this fine morning." The headmaster attempted to postpone the next topic, if only for a moment.

"Hmph." The grunt from Snape signaled he was unsuccessful in the diversion. "Is there something more or do you simply wish to extricate me from my quarters early?"

"I require a favor from you, Severus. I need you to give Harry a detention with Minerva. Only Harry. These coded messages from Voldemort disturb me. I believe that he is attempting to lure Harry into rash action. Given Voldemort's fondness of Halloween, I need Harry to be otherwise occupied on that day."

"Potter will do as he pleases, just as he always does. His ideas of his own self-importance will see to that." The Potions Master paused for several moments. "The Dark Lord will be most displeased if he finds out I caused his plans to fail," Snape finished with obvious implications.

"That is why your detention will be for tonight with Minerva. The rest will be taken care of."

"How will it be taken care of? Why McGonagall? Surely she has better things to do than babysit Potter. I believe Filch would delight in administering such a punishment."

"It is best that you do not know. As to why it must be Minerva, Argus is a fine watchmen but Harry would have no problem escaping him, should he try it. Escaping Minerva's classroom is decidedly more difficult. However you do it, I believe that it will be necessary for Harry to be otherwise occupied on that night." The headmaster sent a significant look to the professor, who nodded.

"I will do as you ask."

* * *

From Harry's point of view, the morning progressed as any morning typically did. He had a healthy amount of time before his first class of the day, so he managed to make a decent appearance at breakfast seated with his friends. Afterward, he managed a nap during his history period. While duplicating Hermione's notes took a bit of whining on his part, after a few minutes he was successful in that pursuit as well. Overall, he considered the day to be progressing fairly well. It was an opinion he would most likely have to change.

Entering Potions, the Boy-Who-Lived immediately knew it was not going to be a good day. The greasy git, as he was so aptly titled, gave a death glare equivalent to, "Sit down, shut up, and you may live through the period." Neville dropped his books. Harry just glared back.

"Longbottom! Pick those up and stop blocking the entrance. Ten points from Gryffindor." The professor gave a snarl so perfect that Lavender would later swear she saw smoke leaving his nose.

"S . . . S . . . Sorry sir!"

"No excuses! Move!" Every one hurried to their seats. No one wanted to anger the man any further. "Now, I have written the instructions for today's class on the board. You must make the potion and tell me its usage by the end of class. Should you succeed, which I find highly unlikely, you will write exactly one foot of parchment on the potion. Should you fail, the length is extended to three feet and you had better include at least four important instances of past usage. Begin!" Everyone moved, though not all in the direction of the cupboards. Most tried to hide in their seats for several seconds.

Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione had grouped together at the far right of the classroom. Each wondered exactly how many points they would lose that day. Neville also wrote a quick note to his Gran in case he did not leave the room alive. After the cupboards cleared a bit, Harry and Hermione went to collect ingredients for the group.

The potion was not overly complicated; the real difficulty was each ingredient required precise timing. The class was half over when Harry realized that his and Ron's potion was not going to be up to required standards. In other words, it was not going to be perfect. He and Ron managed to add several more ingredients before the inevitable came to pass.

"Potter! Is your potion made correctly?" The surprise question almost caused Neville to fall out of his chair. Harry however, had been expecting it for several minutes and merely turned his attention to the grease ball before him. He subtly motioned for Ron to continue without him. "Potter? Are you going to answer the question or have you lost the ability to speak?"

"Sir, the scales were added just a bit too early."

"I remember asking a yes or no question, Potter. Did you not understand?"

"No." Harry knew what Snape's response was going to be either way. It was the entire reason for phrasing the question the way he had. Either way, Harry would be wrong.

"You did not understand the question, Potter. Even your arrogant father would have. Though based on your performance in . . ." Snape was cut off before he could continue.

"No, our potion was not made correctly."

"Ten point deduction for interrupting a professor."

"I'm sorry but did your rant have a point other than insulting me and my deceased parents?"

"Five poi . . ." Again Snape was cut off.

"I thought not." While this course of action may have seemed unwise, it had become apparent after the fifteenth minute of a highly localized death glare that Snape was going to punish him somehow. Deserving or not. Harry preferred that he, at least, earned it.

"Detention Potter." The professor turned to leave, having finished his task for the day. Harry was not done.

"When?" Immediately robes swished and Severus Snape turned back.

"What was that Potter?"

"You said I have detention but you didn't specify when I should report for it."

"As much as I would like to watch you clean cauldrons with your bare hands, I have better things to do. Your Head of House will assign the exact date and time." The encounter was finished and so was Harry's potions period. He quickly packed his books and walked out, fuming.

He stormed back through the castle, nearly trampling several first years returning from the bathroom. Harry didn't even notice. It was lunch time before any student or teacher saw any sign of Harry Potter. At least that is the story Professor Vector would stick to later. In reality, her free period was a bit more tense than it normally was. That may have had something to do with the black haired teenager throwing extreme amounts of raw magic at what used to be her large cube of silicon. It was still a very large block of silicon, it was just much blacker and less cubic than it had been before Harry arrived.

* * *

A much calmer but still very annoyed Harry Potter arrived at lunch. Those who knew him made sure to give the Boy-Who-Lived plenty of space. It seemed Harry had not returned yet, but the person who had earned his spot on Voldemort's hit list had. Professor Minerva McGonagall despite knowing Harry quite well had not categorized him as such and decided it would be a good time to approach the boy about his detention, having been informed of it not too long ago.

"Mr. Potter, might I have a word with you." Harry only glanced up at her before leaving the table and the Great Hall. She followed at a slower pace, finding him leaning against the far wall just outside the doors. "I have been informed of your assigned detention."

"When is it Professor?"

"I believe Thursday at six will be sufficient." Harry nodded and turned to leave, but McGonagall was not done.

"Mr. Potter, in the future you must contain your temper." That was it for Harry. He was officially done with every encounter between himself and Snape being his fault.

"Like it would have mattered!" He had turned so fast and uttered the reply with such ferocity that the experienced Transfiguration Professor had to take a step back.

"Mr. Potter!" Harry was not to be denied though.

"Snape was going to give me a detention before I ever walked into that room. I could have done everything perfectly and I would still be talking to you right now. I also find it hard to believe that you just happen to assign my detention for Halloween." There was no mistaking who he was now.

"Mr. Potter. I will not stand for your blatant disrespect." Minerva McGonagall was not someone to be taken lightly. She now had nearly as much fire in her eyes as Harry had in his.

"You have my respect Professor, but I'll give Snape respect when he earns it. Hell will freeze first." With his parting shot, Harry turned and left the professor standing in the corridor.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor and you will have detention on Friday as well, Mr. Potter." Harry made no sign that he even heard his Head of House. He just kept walking.

* * *

"Harry was still exceptionally angry when he reached Divination, and Trelawney's foretellings of death and doom didn't do anything for his temperament. After the third prediction that, "Fate will cause a most grievous tragedy." He quickly replied, "She'll have to get in line." After Divination, Harry moved to the class which had only recently been demoted to his second most hated class; Potions had once again reclaimed the top spot. Eventually, the time came for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and the Gryffindors headed down to join the Hufflepuffs for class. By this time, the Gryff's including Ron and Hermione were giving Harry a very wide berth. He had, after all, nearly flattened Malfoy as Draco had attempted to intercept his self-appointed nemesis.

They seemed to think that plenty of room was called for during Defense as well. Dean Thomas subtly took several bets on the chances that Umbridge would survive the day. His bettors decided that her odds were not good. The 'Puffs, having only seen pieces of the puzzle of the day, concurred. Umbridge herself agreed silently after being in the same room with the boy for less than a minute. Thus, Harry Potter was seated alone and perfectly content to remain that way. He thought he might get the chance until he noticed two distinctly female presences take flanking positions around him.

"Hey Harry, it seems that you've had a bit of a day." Hannah Abbott started the conversation as she was prone to doing. Harry made a sound that registered somewhere between a growl and a declaration of evil intent.

"Now don't be like that; day's not over yet. You still have to teach us something tonight." Susan whispered. Harry's response was only slightly less chilling. The symbolic ball was passed back to Hannah.

"Snape's a git, but that's nothing new. I'm sure nothing you are currently contemplating helps me survive. Come up with something else." Harry's reaction still didn't change much. Hannah shrugged to Susan. The Bones girl's response was to begin drawing. After several minutes of drawing and a discrete swish of her wand, she passed the parchment to the angry boy.

Harry quickly opened the note wonder why she was passing one when he was sitting right there. He soon found out because upon opening it, Harry Potter was treated to Stick Snape yelling at Stick Harry who responded by pounding Stick Snape into the ground with a rather unbelievably sized hammer. After which Stick Harry wrung out Stick Snape's hair and then forced Stick Snape to drink the accumulated bucket.

Dolores Umbridge who was at that time attempting to teach as far away from Potter as she possibly could eventually spied the Boy-Who-Lived attempting to contain his laughter. She contemplated reprimanding him for several seconds, but decided her chances of continued survival were better if she did nothing. So, at the end of a very long school day, the spirits of the Boy-Who-Lived were slightly higher than he had expected them to be, high enough that the members of the DA believed it would be safe enough to attend the meeting that night without fear of inadvertent loss of limb.

* * *

The group assembled nervously. While none was afraid that Harry would dismember them, almost none were currently comfortable being in the same room that he was.

"Alright, break into to pairs and practice stunning each other. One step dodge." It was quickly done, and Harry fell into his role correcting those who needed help. The group was getting better practicing combat. Most of them were now comfortable doing something other than standing still, but none were comfortable in what he would classify a full combat situation yet.

Moving quickly down the row of students, Harry quickly came upon his most interesting pair. The duo, Luna Lovegood and Tracey Davis, were probably the most comfortable doing what he asked of the class. Tracey seemed to live by the motto, 'Fairness means nothing if you're dead.' which Harry whole heartedly agreed with, and he figured Luna would be comfortable if he asked her to jump off the Astronomy Tower.

The two were exchanging spells at an incredible pace. It seemed that neither was waiting for their opponents spells to reach before they were firing their own. This was, in all honesty, exactly what Harry wanted the class to learn, but in the close quarters that existed at that moment, it was a bit dangerous.

"Tracey. Luna." Davis whipped around wand trained on the interrupter; Luna simply returned to her normal state. "Slow down. That was good, but it's a bit dangerous in a crowd."

"Relax, Potter. Loony and I were just upping the ante a bit." Harry's eyes narrowed a bit at the nickname. Before he could comment, Luna made herself known.

"I'm happy to see you got rid of those Womplings Harry." Both Harry and Tracey turned to the odd girl.

"For the last time Lovegood, Womplings don't exist." Harry was still twitching a bit, wondering exactly what Womplings were. He decided he didn't want to know.

"Then how was Harry infested with them today?" Tracey, for her part, seemed to be at the end of her rope and just screeched in frustration.

"He wasn't. He never has been because they don't exist!" Luna didn't even blink.

"Well if it wasn't Womplings then it must have been Yellow-Tipped Fairies because he was quite obviously showing signs of infestation." Luna had still not blinked and was examining Harry in a way that made him nervous.

"AH! STUPEFY!" Luna sidestepped without even looking at her attacker. Her eyes had locked onto Harry's in a disturbing way.

"That's enough, everyone. We'll practice for a little bit next time, then move on. For now separate into groups of four and do short disarming battles. Last team with wands win." After directing the assembled group, Harry moved to referee. Luckily the rest of the meeting proceeded without incident.

Eventually groups began to make their way out of the room. Cho gave him a quick look, but moved on without comment. Apparently his quick escape after the first meeting had left an impression that was less than favorable. Harry shrugged within himself; he had better things to do. Luna left after searching the back of his neck thoroughly, without asking. Harry shivered uncomfortably thinking about that.

* * *

Across a distance, a group of adult wizards convened. They had more sinister motives than the group of previous description. The last arrived to find their Lord sending a note away with a great black bird. They shivered in fear when he turned to face them. He was clearly unhappy.

"I gave you tasks, and I receive failure. I'm disappointed it you." The Dark Lord met the eyes of each servant in turn. "Yaxley, have you completed the task I set you on." The Death Eater immediately fell to the ground.

"My Lord, I tried but they were hard to find. I have . . ."

"Nothing! CRUCIO!" The man lay on the ground twitching. The rest of the assembled party swallowed, hoping they were not next. "You had better finish by tomorrow. If you are responsible for ruining my plans, you will not live through the day!"

"I will, My Lord."

"See that you do. Rodolphus how about you?"

"My Lord, it is nearly done. I shall finish. . ."

"TONIGHT!" Voldemort cursed the man before he finished, his disapproval obvious. "Leave and do not return until it is done. Severus, I hope you bring better news."

"I do, My Lord. I have finished the potions you requested. They are in your stores." Snape fell to his knees bowing before Lord Voldemort.

"Good. I knew you would not fail, and you have succeeded ahead of schedule. You may leave and attend to your duties." Severus Snape gave one last bow and left the room.

"As for the rest of you, each of you has failed me in minor ways, but minor failure is still failure and I cannot allow that. BOW!" In truth not all had failed, but they would be punished all the same. The statements produced the desired effect--fear. Each and every Death Eater still present immediately fell to the ground. They braced for the inevitable.

Fifteen minutes later each and every servant left the throne room, lame in some way or another. Nothing that would linger long, but each had received a punishment. That punishment, none would soon forget.

* * *

Most people would be unsympathetic to the Death Eater's plight, and Harry Potter was certainly one of them. The pain that he received from his famous scar told him that Tom was making his anger felt among his followers. Unfortunately, the pain made falling asleep rather difficult, and after a trying day Harry was hoping to retire without further incident.

"Give it a rest and curse them tomorrow, I'm trying to sleep," he muttered to himself, but his request went unanswered. Harry lay in his bed hoping that at some point Voldemort would get over it. While such a wish would not be granted, he was given another distraction. Several taps at the window signaled that an owl wanted in. Being the only person in bed so early, Harry moved to let it in. He was unsurprised when a black bird deposited a note on his head. A quick read and Harry decided another visit to Dumbledore's office was needed.

_I see that I have_

_your attention. Though_

_I wonder if you did it_

_yourself. I believe not,_

_but our game will keep_

_shifting till I'm satisfied._

_PIQHRNDLAKKWMAQT_

_YPWDPTTLKJXDM_

Harry walked to the Headmaster's office as silently as he could. It was still fairly early in the night but that would mean nothing if he was caught. Invisible or not, footsteps could still be heard by anyone who cared to listen. When he reached the guardian and removed his cloak, the guardian moved as if waiting for his appearance.

"Come in Harry." He did so and caught his Headmaster petting Fawkes. "I presume that your appearance here means you received another note. Harry nodded and handed it to the old wizard. Several moments spent reading and then a quick walk to the giant desk.

"Sir?" Harry's speech seemed to startle the Professor from his thoughts.

"Ah, my apologies Harry. I was quite lost in thought. Lemon Drop?" Eyes rolled. This wasn't the time for candy.

"No thank you sir."

"Alright then. It appears Tom is determined to have you play his game Harry. Not a comforting thought."

"Do you know what it means Professor?" Dumbledore smiled or at least Harry thought he did.

"Your confidence in my abilities is most flattering Harry, but no I haven't solved it quite yet. I do have several ideas however."

"What are they?"

"Do you wish to know, or would you rather try to work it out yourself?" Harry thought about it. Part of him would rather he just got the answer, but more wanted to prove he was up to Voldemort's challenge.

"I'd like to solve it myself, but maybe you could give me a hint."

"A hint? Maybe I could. Septima said you worked the last two out with her, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then I should think she'll be most helpful with this one as well." Harry nodded. He had already planned on asking her, but had hoped that Dumbledore would give him a better hint. Several moments later, a small duplicate was placed in his hand and he was moving toward the door.

"Have a good night Harry."

* * *

AN: This chapter's been awhile in the making, but I've gotten it done. I had a bit of fun with this one if you can tell. First things first, as it should be, thanks for the views and of course the reviews. Assuming the hits progress like normal, this story will go over 100,000 sometime Wednesday which is a bit unbelievable. Anyway I'm a bit off topic. I had a couple of things to cover . . . yeah.

Nasser Himura noted that I had never described Vector's looks to which I reply: No I haven't. Simply put, it isn't important, it will never be important, and as such I will probably never do so. Except maybe in the last chapter because I'm evil like that.

Oh, and Harry didn't go after Dumbles at the end of the chapter even though he suspects that he did it because he's wiped from the day. You know when you're just so tired physically and mentally that you don't care about much other than sleeping. Yeah, like that. The note was important; blowing up at Dumbles not so much.


	18. Chapter 17

If y'all think I own Harry Potter . . . I got nothing. No one is that deluded.

* * *

Over the next several days a myriad of seemingly unimportant events happened throughout the Wizarding World. The vast majority of these events were in fact inconsequential, but several were not. One of those events which was seemingly unimportant to those who knew was the continuing efforts of Septima Vector and Harry Potter to decode the messages sent by Voldemort. This accomplishment was judged inconsequential only because the two in question were not the first to decode the message and there were only a handful of people that knew about it in the first place.

Halloween came without further incident, but Harry knew that it would not leave as easily. No matter what precautions were taken, inevitably something would happen which is why he was currently having trouble not looking over his shoulder every few minutes. His peculiar behavior did not escape the notice of the other occupant of the classroom. Professor Septima Vector was trying, really trying, to ignore the peculiar behavior of her young partner.

"Harry relax. I promise you won't be attacked within my classroom. At least not this early in the day." Harry did not look convinced.

"I've been arrested in your classroom before, and it was in the morning."

"Yes, but no spells were fired so it doesn't count. Besides how many people can say they've been escorted out of Hogwarts by Aurors while still a student." Vector's reasoning didn't really reassure the Boy-Who-Lived, and her attempt at levity was less than amusing.

"It's Halloween," replied Harry. An eyebrow raise accompanied his statement. That ended any debate about what might happen as far as Harry was concerned.

"You have a point, but you haven't gotten the second part of the message yet. Speaking of which, what exactly do you think about the last message. "You alone can sa . . ." doesn't give you much information. Though, I'm sure you can think of several obvious possibilities." Harry nodded in agreement.

"I still think that we were right in assuming that the message will be, 'You alone can save . . . someone,' but who that might be I don't know." He shrugged after finishing.

"The obvious answer is something to do with the previous two messages. Ruse. Attack on Walbeck Lane." Vector paused for a moment, adopting a look of concentration. "The question is whether the Walbeck Lane is the feint or the true target," Vector added.

Harry thought for a moment. "I don't think it's the feint. That's too easy. It's what we're suppose to believe. Anyway, Professor Dumbledore seems to know what it means and probably has a better idea."

"But the notes are being sent to you."

"Does it matter? Voldemort knows I'll tell Dumbledore. He might as well send them directly to him." Harry grumbled. He still wasn't particularly happy with the way he was being treated by some of the staff recently.

"It matters because he didn't send them to Dumbledore; he sent them to you. Whatever happens afterward is a secondary concern." Vector paused before continuing with meaning, "He sent them to you." Septima decided that was enough serious conversation for the morning and the two moved on to a lighter subject. "Anyway, we seem to have gotten well off track. You've been able to recognize our Enchanter's Cube regularly under these circumstances, but it has a great amount of magic to detect. We'll be trying to improve your sense by identifying smaller amounts of energy, as well as adding several different types. You know from our experimentation that magic can feel differently depending on the source, intent, or any number of factors that we haven't yet found. What I'm hoping is that eventually you'll find another basic substance that feels unique to you."

"Another?" Harry was a bit lost again. That wasn't all that surprising as it tended to happen at least twice in any given session.

"Yes, another. Gold will obviously be the first, and I believe that it will be easier to transfigure gold as general substance to a substance you are more familiar with."

"That has something to do with magical connections, right?"

"Very good Harry. The more familiar something is to you, the easier it will be to communicate that thought to Magic. I hope it will work like that anyway." The last part was said mostly under the Professor's breath and did not fill Harry with a great deal of confidence.

The work continued until it was time for Harry to go.

* * *

Arriving at his first actual class of the day, Harry sat down and waited for Professor Flitwick to continue his lectures on animation charms, something that Harry was intensely interested in for their obvious strategic value. Potions came after Charms and Snape was in rare form that day. Harry managed to escape the classroom with only minor reductions in points despite the bat's eyes locked onto nearly every move he made. Unfortunately, given Harry's better than average performance, Snape had moved on to other targets and the rest of Gryffindor was not nearly as successful in avoiding point losses and scathing comments as Harry himself had been. The last class of the day was most definitely Harry's least favorite, at least this year.

"Mr. Potter, if you would be so kind as to tell the class what Chapter 8 teaches us?" The toad's screeching tones did nothing to help Harry's impending headache.

"Nothing."

"Pardon, I must have miss heard you. Surely you must realize what the lesson is." Umbridge seemed in a particularly good mood.

"I thought I made my opinion on the book perfectly clear. Several times," Harry replied, wondering exactly where the toad was intending to take this odd conversation.

"That you did, but I thought that recent events might have given you reason to reconsider such an opinion, that it might be prudent to conduct yourself more amiably." Harry still didn't quite follow exactly what she was intending but was beginning to have a fair idea.

"Why would that be?"

"It is obvious that some of my colleagues are becoming less enamored by you. More are seeing my point of view." Now Harry understood, and it was hilarious. He couldn't help himself. Laughter resounded in the classroom.

"You think . . . that . . . Snape . . . giving me a detention . . . has anything . . . to do with you." That was as much as Harry could get out before he was completely overtaken. Nearly a half minute later Harry was finally able to respond coherently. "Snape doesn't care what you think. He surely doesn't care what I think. He only cares who I look like." It should be important to note that Inquisitor Umbridge's face had gone from being almost impossibly smug to roughly resembling a ripe tomato. At least Harry felt that was the closest approximation he could make. Her face had appeared to lose a half century in age, but gained nearly a dozen pounds in the process. Harry quickly reevaluated and decided that she was impersonating a mutated infant with a severe sunburn.

"I may not be able to give you detention tonight Potter, but you will be spending an inordinate amount of time learning to respect your betters," stated the toad-like woman through narrowed eyes.

"I thought I had already proven myself better. Didn't you end up hanging from the ceiling last time you challenged me?"

"GET OUT POTTER!" Umbridge's voice resounded throughout the old school. A Transfiguration Professor paused speechless during a lecture for the first time in twenty years and an aged Headmaster placed his hands to his temples in an vain attempt to stop an impending headache. Harry, himself, had only one thing to say.

"Gladly." With no further words exchanged Harry left the classroom and made his way toward the Great Hall for dinner.

Being thrown out of Defense was both good and bad, but it was vastly more good than bad. While Harry waited for the rest of the school to arrive, he reveled in not having to listening the incessant whine of Umbridge's voice, but he was also a tad lonely being the only person sitting in the vast hall. Eventually, other students began to filter in. The silence of the room was filled with whispers that Harry couldn't quite make out. That was until Ron made his presence known as soon as he spied his friend sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table.

"Harry!" The target in question had no more turned his head toward the source before he was overcome by his voluminous best mate. "That was fantastic Harry! I think Umbridge is still red! If she doesn't calm down soon . . . I dunno, but we won't have defense for a week!" Hermoine didn't completely share Ron's opinion.

"Ron! You shouldn't wish harm on a Professor! I must admit, however, a week without that class would definitely be a positive." Her arrival might have gone unnoticed by either boy, but her words did not.

"Who are you and what did you do to Hermione?" Harry spoke first, but both Ron and Harry had their wands out in a flash, and Hermione paled a bit until she saw the grins tugging at the side of each males mouth.

"That's not funny! Harry! Ron!" Ron had other ideas.

"That was fantastic mate. Who would have thought that Hermione would want to . . . Ow! Hermione that hurt!" The female of the trio had made her point violently clear. A quick slap on the back of Ron's head and both Harry and the previously mentioned Weasley lost their smiles. Hermione on the other hand, quickly gained a smug expression.

"Serves you right Ronald," the bushy haired witch replied. Then she directed her attention at the first offender. "And you shouldn't act like that."

"You could get us killed, or worse, . . . expelled," Harry said while making air quotes.

Hermoine growled in frustration. "Argh, I was twelve! I would have thought you two could let it go by now!" At this point the two males of the group displayed what intelligence they did possess and didn't push the angry female any further, although they did share a soundless laugh when the brunette turned away.

The time of Harry's Halloween detention approached, but first the trio made there way to the Great Hall for dinner. The topic of conversation was invariably the aforementioned detention. Harry was at least partly relieved that it was with McGonagall and not with Snape.

"I still think it's barmy, mate. You get detention for existing now."

"Ron, this isn't exactly a new trend," Harry sighed. Ron had been on this same train of thought for a ten minutes with no real signs of stopping. "Obviously Dumbledore wants me occupied tonight. That way I can't get into trouble, even though it usually finds me anyway."

"Harry, you're being paranoid. The professors aren't all against you. And even if they are doing what you say, then don't you think it is better that you are being supervised for whatever Voldemort has planned?" Hermione was not quite ready to admit that there was a conspiracy in Hogwarts aimed only to keep Harry occupied.

"They aren't against me, they just want me. . ." Harry paused in thought. ". . . isolated. If something happens then, well, at least I'm sequestered safely out of the way. Protected from whatever Dumbledore thinks is going to happen."

"Did McGonagall say what your detention is going to be tonight?"

"No, but I doubt it will be all that difficult." Harry shrugged. The detention itself wasn't all that important and as such Harry had wasted little time thinking about it. He was more concerned with what might happen while he was indisposed. "I've got to head out; I'll talk to you guys when I get back."

Harry made his way out of the Great Hall, while most of the school watched in anticipation. It was, after all, Halloween and the significance of the date had not passed the students by. At the head table, the headmaster spied the departure with no less interest than that of the his students.

* * *

Upon arriving at the Transfiguration professor's office, Harry was directed to his seat.

"Mr. Potter, tonight's detention will no doubt be different than any you have had before. I realize that the reasons for this meeting are not unknown to you."

"You, or Dumbledore, want me isolated away from anything that Voldemort has planned" Harry spoke with a bit of venom, which did not go unnoticed by the elder witch.

"I would normally ask that you show a bit more respect, but in this case I believe you should be entitled to a bit of animosity." A small smile graced the lips of the Professor.

"So what is my detention anyway?"

"I don't think you'll find it too much of a punishment. I will remind you that tomorrow's will be different, because I believe that your outburst did warrant such action, but tonight I want you to practice a bit of transfiguration. This will be different than what we have done in class because we will be incorporating what Professor Vector has been teaching you during your morning sessions."

"I don't understand. We really haven't been doing any transfiguration. We've only covered physical changes so far."

"Harry what do you think transfiguration is? Transfiguration covers much more than just changing one object into another. A beetle to a button is only the beginning of what's done within my field. There are a wide range of possible applications which can be done beyond what you see in the classroom. Septima tells me you been learning to control raw magic. She also tells me you've been performing admirably. Tonight I would like you to control the use that magic for a specific purpose. Your work with models should help you greatly in this respect. I do not wish you to break anything. Destruction, while useful, is much less interesting than creation." With that, McGonagall went to her storage and returned levitating several lengths of what appeared to be steel pipes. "Create."

"Create what?" Harry was flabbergasted.

"I will leave that to you." McGonagall offered no more input and instead went to work grading what appeared to be essays of some sort. Seeing no other choice, Harry began to gather the pipes and create . . . something.

* * *

A fair distance away, the final preparations were taking place to begin the first stages of the plan, months after inception. Lord Voldemort stood before his Death Eaters all dressed in gray. It would not do for any to be linked with him; anonymity was still too beneficial. The room was only dimly lit with the barest of light. Voldemort himself cast a large shadow down the middle of the room. The scene was imposing to say the least.

"My friends, my Death Eaters, tonight we will be dealing a great blow to those who would oppose us. The Order of the Phoenix will learn that they would do well to stay out of my way, and those who would ally themselves with the so-called Boy-Who-Lived will learn the consequences of that choice." The Dark Lord made a motion to a masked Lucius Malfoy on his right. The masked man moved to pass out a small vial to each man before him. "You have all been given a special portkey. Do not waste my time asking for an activation phrase. There is none. It will activate when the time is right." The Dark Lord then indicated a table full of similar looking phials. "This potion, one of my own creations, will help you to carry out the plan. Drink it as soon as you reach your destination. It will allow you to complete your mission without getting caught. I will be most displeased if any of my servants are captured."

Each potion was given to a Death Eater and all were secreted away beneath the robes of the followers.

"Now I have one last gift for each of you that were chosen." With his last statement, Voldemort motioned to the darkened rear of the room which was quickly illuminated. Several of the Death Eaters stepped back in surprise at the hidden attendees. Dozens of pale figures stood at the back of the room. "Our guests have graciously decided to assist our cause in these darkening days. You will have their aid tonight and I trust you will appreciate their efforts. Now, those of you who have your assignments may leave, our guests will join you."

As one the Death Eaters bowed before their master and made to leave his presence. The pale figures moved to join them as they departed. One Death Eater remained. He slowly approached the Dark Lord.

"Master, you have not given me an assignment. Am I not to partake in this raid?"

"_Crucio! _Do not question me, Severus!" Tom Riddle grinned as his servant writhed on the floor.

"I am sorry, my Lord. I meant not to question your judgment. I merely ask the reason I was summoned if not to assist in the attack." The curse was released during Snape's reply, and the potion master began to stand again. As he did, Voldemort began to move toward the exit beckoning Snape to follow.

"Take care to remember your place Severus. I will inform you of your role only when I feel it right to do so. In answer to your question, no, you will not be joining any of the battles tonight. I have a special task for you, one which only you can complete. You should not fail me." Voldemort turned into his private study, and when Snape followed he was surprised to find that another was already inside. "Bella, it is nearly time." The witch in question nearly jumped in joy.

"Master thank you! I have waited for so long!" Snape shook a bit as he heard Bellatrix's exclamations. Bellatrix Lestrange, giddy and smiling, was not a sight one usually wished to witness at any point in their existence. It almost always ended in bloodshed. Fortunately, neither of the other occupants noticed his short drop in character.

"Soon, very soon, Bella. Severus, you will remain here until I receive confirmation and then I have a delivery for you." Voldemort did not clarify what exactly he was waiting on confirmation of.

* * *

Upon arrival at his destination, Lucius set began raising portkey and apparition wards to prevent the targets escape. The floo had already been disconnected, thanks to some well placed sources. Lucius grinned; this would be a good night.

"Don't you have a potion to take?" The voice startled the blond man.

"Shouldn't you be dust right now?" He replied looking up at the setting sun.

"Your master was kind enough to provide us with a convenient way to avoid the unfortunate side effects of sunlight. You may rest assured that I will not be leaving that quickly." Lucius was decidedly not assured of anything. "You need not worry, we have been . . . instructed to cause you no ill."

"Malfoy's do not worry! Be glad that I have been instructed likewise." A toothy grin was all that answered him. Lucius quickly withdrew the vial and downed it. Instantly the world slowed to a crawl. His limbs felt lighter and and his step quicker. The Malfoy lord grinned. He decided he liked this potion. "I guess it would be best to knock. _Reducto!_" The door to the house in front of them blasted open. "Jones, I suggest you come out. If we have to come in, the results will be most unpleasant."

A similar situation took place in two other locations around Britain. Emmeline Vance and her family came under siege courtesy of the Carrows, and the Lestrange brothers led an attack on Elphias Doge.

* * *

During the years of the first war, it quickly became obvious to those allied against the Dark Lord that communicating distress was sorely needed. The Death Eaters attacked without warning at all times of the day and night. As such each member of the order is given certain items which allow the other members to be alerted in an hour need. For fifteen years these items had sat in silence. That silence would end this night.

It started as a harsh ring that alerted the occupant of the highest office in Hogwarts. Shortly thereafter, similar devices began to ring throughout Magical England.

Albus Dumbledore was up from his desk in an instant, and displaying quickness not usually known in those of his advanced age, he quickly made his way over to his signal. As soon as he touched it, he received three images of those in need. His breath hitched a small bit when his friend Elphias's picture played in his mind. As soon as the messages were delivered, the instrument went silent. The occupant; however, did not. He went immediately to the fireplace to contact everyone who might possibly help.

The first of those was an occupant of that very same castle. Professor Minerva MacGonagall was not-so-busy overseeing a detention of her most famous student. Her fire roared and turned a very particular shade of green. She sighed and wished that she was more surprised. The fire also drew the attention of the other occupant.

"Harry Potter, my fire does not require your attention." After ensuring that Harry had gone back to his previous task, the stern Deputy Headmistress moved to answer a call that she was sure would not convey good news. "What has happened Albus?" The hushed tones did not carry to Harry's ears.

"I do not know yet, but several Order members have activated their distress signals." Minerva's heart dropped a little bit. It was worse than she expected.

"Then you should have left already!" This exclamation did reach Harry in perfect clarity.

"Minerva please. I will leave shortly, but I must insist that Harry not leave your sight until I have returned. Something is not right."

"Albus do not waste time with ridiculously obvious statements. You are needed." The headmistress slammed her fireplace closed. She closed her eyes to calm herself before turning around. When she did, she immediately met the eyes of Harry Potter.

"What's happening Professor?" Harry was obviously anxious.

"It does not concern you, Potter." The nervous energy had disappeared and her stern and stolid demeanor had returned with a vengeance.

"Does it have to do with . . ." Whatever Harry intended to say would be lost and unanswered.

"It does not concern you, Mr. Potter. Continue with your detention unless you would like for me to find another task, a task more befitting the circumstances." Harry obviously did not particularly like the sound of the Professor's voice and continued as before. His mind, however, did not return to its previous task and instead wandered to numerous and unpleasant possibilities. None of them ended well.

The reserved professor sat behind her desk, her eyes never straying from the student before her. Her mind strayed as much as his, and her possibilities far darker than his.

* * *

Grimmauld Place was in a commotion when Albus Dumbledore stepped through the fire, but when the Headmaster appeared during a crisis people took notice. Nearly all activity within Headquarters stopped on his arrival. It is completely unimportant to note that happened in nearly every instance when he entered a room unannounced. This time was quite different than most, because of the dire situation the Order of the Phoenix now found itself in.

"I forgive the hurry, but we must be quick. Already too much time has passed since the initial distress signals were received. For those of you who have not been informed, there are currently three Order members under attack by an unknown number of attackers. Elphias Doge, Emmeline Vance, and Hestia Jones are all at this moment under siege." Albus stopped for a moment to catch his breath and immediately Alastor Moody stepped in.

"How many attackers are there and what are they?"

"Unknown at this time. Have you already separated into groups?" The Headmaster's question was met with silent nodding indicating the positive. "Remus you will take the Hestia Jones residence. If you accomplish your task quickly separate your group in two in order to assist the rest."

Remus Lupin nodded and left with those he led. "Let's go."

Dumbledore then turned toward Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Kingsley, you and Auror Tonks will lead in the rescue of Emmeline Vance. As with Remus, please assist the others should you finish quickly." Shackbolt hesitated. "Do not worry, I have taken steps to alert the Aurors and they will not be calling you away." After being informed, Shacklebolt departed with his group without a word. That left a much smaller group featuring an infamous leader. "Alastor, you and I will be heading to Elphias's aid."

"Aye. Looks to be a nasty night, Albus."

"I sincerely hope not Alastor. I sincerely hope not." With those final words, two old friends and a rag-tag group of others left to save another old friend.

* * *

Remus Lupin's furry little "problem" was beneficial in several ways. His senses were slightly sharper than the average wizard's and short of decapitation it was unlikely that he would perish by magical injury. Now, while the second had served him abundantly in the past, it was his senses which allowed him to quickly ascertain that they were in much worse shape than he had first guessed. Immediately upon his arrival, he heard nothing. But it wasn't what he heard, it was what he smelled. He caught wind of two very distinct scents. For a werewolf one took far more precedence over the other. "Vampires." Several sharp cracks hijacked any other thoughts.

"Lupin what's the situation."

"Wayne?" Remus was slightly surprised to see the Senior Auror arrive. "Stay down. I don't see them. But they're here."

"Who?"

"Malfoy. Vampires." Robards had just enough time to register Lupin's words before the ominous silence broke and flashes of light flew from multiple directions.

* * *

Unlike Remus and those with him, Tonks and Shacklebolt did not have to contend with any calm. Upon their arrival at Emmeline Vance's, they were almost immediately under intense bombardment. Luckily most came from only one direction and was easily dodged. Ambushed they were, but in dire straights they were not. A sickly green light passed within a couple feet of the group causing most to reconsider their position.

"Take cover and return fire."

* * *

While several people entered the first battle of the second wizarding war of their lifetimes, a man began the third of his lifetime with a friend he met at the end of the first. The younger wizarding generations had poked fun of Albus Dumbledore's Merlin-like appearance. However, those that met him in battle often thought that it was fitting. In full force, Albus Dumbledore seemed like Merlin in battle. While most wizards moved like quidditch chasers, attempting to both accomplish a goal and avoid the opposition, Dumbledore moved like a tank. He cut a swath through battle with singular focus like few had seen before. Many who got in his way lived to regret it; some did not. Lord Voldemort himself had very nearly met his premature end because of Dumbledore's surprising strategy.

"Alastor, move in behind me and capture anyone you see." With that one sentence Dumbledore began moving toward his target. The earth spun up around him.

Being familiar with his friends tactics, and secretly thinking that they were insane, Alastor Moody only rolled his eyes and got in position to assist. One by one, the rest of the group followed in his wake.

* * *

Miles from any of the three battles, several figures stood in silence and in near darkness. Severus Snape was nervous. The Dark Lord was continually testing his loyalty, and invariably that meant going on one raid or another. Standing next to the two craziest, in his opinion, people in Britain with no means for escape should they decide his further presence was unnecessary was not his ideal situation. Then a small pop echoed in the chamber and before him lay an unconscious Alecto Carrow. Voldemort sighed and woke his follower. Alecto slowly clambered to her feet.

"Alecto, I'm disappointed. I thought for sure you would last longer than this." The Death Eater in question immediately dropped back to the floor.

"My Lord, I apologize. I was caught from behind. It will not happen again." It was slightly pathetic that such a proud witch sniveled in such a way. Such was the life of a Death Eater.

"See that it does not. Well what can you report? I doubt you have much considering your inability to stay conscious."

"My Lord, Vance retreated immediately and the Order arrived shortly after. We do not know whether Vance is alive. She has not been seen since the initial attack." If possible the woman's head dipped even lower.

"And has he arrived?"

"No, Dumbledore has not arrived in our battle." Alecto Carrow held her breath after the declaration. Lord Voldemort was not known for mercy.

"Unfortunate. However, it is not unanticipated. Get back to battle and do try not to fail so spectacularly again." Alecto fled as if the Devil were on her heels.

"Well Severus, it seems that we will have to wait a bit longer."

They did not have to wait long. Several pops marked the arrival of several more Death Eaters. After rousing the ones that lived and disposing of those that didn't, Voldemort dismissed the lower ranking subjects to return to battle. Only Crabbe remained.

"Crabbe, I do hope you have good news for me."

"My Lord, the battle continues and at the moment it is somewhat of a stalemate." Voldemort was visibly displeased with the report.

"And Dumbledore?"

"He has not arrived."

"So predictable. CRUCIO!" Crabbe writhed in agony as the seconds ticked on. "Do not disappoint me again Crabbe. I promise you will spend a great deal of time in more agony than you can imagine should you do so. Now leave!" The quivering man hurried away and the Dark Lord turned toward a number of bodies laying on the floor. It took several seconds but he found one that interested him. He moved swiftly in the direction of the unconscious Rabastan Lestrange while barking orders to other occupants of the room. "Bella, Severus, wake the rest and send them back." The body before him began to stir. "Rabastan, if you aren't standing by the time I stop speaking, you will not stand for the rest of your pathetic life."

"He is there," Rabastan coughed out. While he didn't actually stand his statement saved his ability to walk.

"Maybe I shall spare you after all, Lestrange. Dumbledore continues to be as predictable as ever. Return to the fight and occupy him as long as possible. When it is necessary, retreat to another battle." Rabastan nodded and left, but Tom Riddle was no longer paying attention. He ordered a low ranking Death Eater to continue reviving people and moved to his Hogwarts Professor. "Severus, the time has come. I have something to for you." Riddle pulled a small envelope from his pocket. "Deliver this to Potter and only to Potter. Fail me on this and I will kill you. Slowly."

Snape almost unconsciously stepped back. It was not like the Dark Lord to be so direct in his threats. "I understand, My Lord. It will be done."

"Good. Bella it is time." With that both Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange disappeared from the room.

The appointed delivery boy wasted no time in leaving himself. No one wasted time when Voldemort promised something. Apparating to Hogsmeade, he immediately took off at the greatest speed he could muster. Being still fairly young by wizarding standards, Severus Snape was by no means slow. He silently wished his portkey took him into Hogwarts but given his nightly occupation that was unwise. By the time he made it to the front gates, he was nearly out of breath, but he pushed on.

* * *

Minerva McGonagall sat quietly waiting for news. She hoped that her friends and allies would return safely, but knew that some would most likely not. It was to her great surprise that Severus Snape burst through her doors and went for Harry. She almost pulled her wand before logic took over.

"Potter take this." Snape's hand held a familiar looking envelope. Harry took it without question. Upon opening it, a familiar scrawl appeared.

_Harry Potter, this challenge has_

_been entertaining but each moment_

_leads to the next. Eventually to the last._

_udrfzsoggqieobk_

Harry immediately took off at a dead sprint out of the room. Snape and McGonagall followed at a slower but still respectable pace considering McGonagall's age and Snape's previous run from Hogsmeade.

Harry arrived at Professor Vector's office and began to pound on the door. He doubted that the professor was already asleep. Indeed he was correct when the door opened revealing a disheveled but very much awake Septima Vector. He immediately handed the note to the professor and made his way to the black board.

"U-D-R-F-Z-S-O-G-G-Q-I-E-O-B-K," read Vector from the note while Harry wrote each letter on the board. "He really isn't considerate of others is he."

"Professor, we need to hurry something is happening right now." Harry urged the elder woman.

"Then put up what we thought the next two would be and hope we get lucky." Harry wrote V-E underneath the first two letters of the message. "U to V and D to E are both one greater so the next four are S-G-A and R. I doubt that is correct. 1-1 looks like the beginning of a Fibonacci sequence so try that."

Harry began writing the sequence on the board. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377 and 610

"Take the remainder of each when divided by 26, Potter." Severus Snape had arrived at Vector's office and was immediately inserting himself in the fray. "34 is 8, 21 and 8 is 29 and remainder 3 . . ." Several minutes of work completed the sequence in numbers easier to manage.

"Thank you, Sir." Snape barely acknowledged Harry and Harry made a mental note to be less polite next time. By the time Harry and Professor Snape finished the sequence, Septima Vector had already done the first several digits and was currently starting on the larger integers. Both Harry and Severus had started on the next few. Circling the one they were doing so that neither would do a letter twice.

V-E-T-H-E-A-B

"B," said Harry before Snape followed. "O. "T." "T." "S." "N." "O." "W."

VETHEABBOTTSNOW

"Only you can save the Abbotts now." Harry paled noticeably as he spoke in a hushed tone. He turned and saw McGonagall who had been standing out of the way while the others worked. He ran over to her. "Professor where do the Abbotts live?"

"They live in London, Potter." The headmistress was surprised at his sudden invasion of her space.

"Where in London?"

"23 Walbeck Lane." Now Harry was as white as a sheet. All three Professors yelled after the Boy-Who-Lived as he ran out of the room, but he wasn't slowing down. Vector didn't have an external floo in her office and he needed one quickly. He arrived back at McGonagall's office well ahead of all three professors who were attempting to keep up with him. Grabbing a handful of floo powder he stepped into the fireplace.

"Ministry of Magic." In a flash he was gone. Septima Vector being the first professor into the office arrived just in time to see a puff of smoke exit the newly empty fireplace.

"He's gone!" McGonagall immediately went to the fireplace and called headquarters. Sirius was waiting.

"Sirius, is Potter there with you?"

"Why would Harry be here?" Sirius was confused because he thought that Harry was safely at Hogwarts with Minerva.

"He just flooed out of my office and none of us heard the location."

"He didn't come here, and I would appreciate it if you found my Godson as soon as possible!"

* * *

While three Hogwarts staff members cursed their most famous student, that same student flew out of a Ministry fireplace and landed in a roll. He barely slowed down as he rose to his feet. Despite running over several Ministry employees, Harry made his way down to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in nearly record time. He was distraught to find it nearly empty.

"Help!" Yelling would draw anyone left to him and hopefully that would be enough.

"Harry? What are you doing here?" Harry was never so happy to see anyone as he was in his life to see Amelia Bones.

"Amelia, the Abbotts are under attack."

"There have been and in fact still are several attacks and none of them are the Abbotts." Amelia didn't have time for this, she was trying to coordinate three simultaneous battles.

"They're distractions. The Abbotts are under attack, I know it."

"How?"

"I don't have time to explain, but please, just trust me that they are and we need to get there now!" Harry was nearly hysterical at this point. They need to get moving.

"Harry, I'll check it out."

"NO! Trust me, they are. You need more people!"

"We don't have anyone else."

"Then you need to take everyone you have. Voldemort will be there." For the first time, Amelia looked directly into Harry's eyes and saw the truth of what he was saying.

"Okay. I'll take everyone I can. Rufus, stay here and coordinate as best you can. Mathews, Thompson, and Callis you're with me. Harry, get back to Hogwarts immediately." She pulled a piece of paper from a nearby bin and waved her wand over it.

"I have to go with you!" Harry was yelling at this point.

"No. Absolutely not. If he's there then you he wants you there. I will not allow you to give him that opportunity."

"I have to. You don't understand."

"Harry, I do understand, but I can't allow it. Go back to Hogwarts." For a few seconds Harry considered it. But when he saw the three Aurors grab onto the paper, he latched onto Amelia's arm just in time to be pulled away.

He landed in a heap at the feet of the Aurors and Amelia Bones was less than amused. In fact, she was downright livid.

"What were you thinking? I'm sending you back." She started to hand him the paper.

"No, I can't. You don't understand. He can feel me. He'll know if I'm not there. He'll kill them and leave." Harry indicated his scar and pleaded with the Head of the DMLE, urging her to see his point. Fortunately, she did.

"Is that true? Harry, I have to know if that's true." He nodded. "Very well. I will allow you to stay for now, but you have to do as I say." He nodded again. "You will obey me absolutely. If I tell you to leave us and portkey back, you will. You will stay well out of the fighting. No being the hero. You can't take chances with your life. I will deal with the situation. Is that understood?" Harry nodded for a third time. She waved her wand again and handed him the paper. "The activation phrase is 'Safety.' Let's go."

Amelia, having a feeling that this was a trap, had the portkey drop them several blocks from the Abbott's home. The group with Harry trailing well behind began to move cautiously for a house that Madam Bones knew quite well. Upon arrival it was obvious that there was more going on than met the eye. The first thing was only obvious to Harry because had a rather noticeable headache and the second which tipped everyone off was that there were several burn marks on the side of the building.

"He's here."

"Are you sure Harry?" Madam Bones was still a little incredulous as to Harry's ability to detect Voldemort.

"Yes."

"Spread out and begin search. Do not engage hostiles without back up." The Aurors nodded and began to move toward the residence.

"I think that will be unnecessary, Amelia." The voice that sounded out of the darkness could only belong to one person. To the groups right, two figures stepped into view. Masks glimmered in the moonlight, but neither really hid the identity of the figure behind. Amelia recognized both immediately.

"Hello, Tom."

* * *

Albus Dumbledore looked at an old friend grateful that he was not lost. Being of distinguished age, old friends were harder and harder to come by.

"It's good to see you Albus, although I wish it was under better circumstances. And my house was standing. Bloody Death Eaters." Elphias Doge spoke in disgusted tones. His displeasure with their attackers was obvious.

"I wish it were as well, but alas, it is not. I do not wish to seem rude but we must going. Several others were attacked tonight and they might require aid." As Dumbledore spoke, a third figure arrived to speak.

"Albus, there aren't any Death Eaters. All our captives are Vampires. The rest have disappeared."

"Tom's servants have always abandoned fighting, favoring survival over capture."

"Yes, but even the unconscious ones are gone." It was not often that Albus Dumbledore had the urge to curse, but we have happened upon one of those rare instances.

"So be it. Alastor, take the group and assist Kingsley. I will go to help Remus." Both quickly departed.

* * *

As it turned out, Remus Lupin was in need of a little assistance. He groaned as his back made contact with a tree. He groaned a bit more before picking himself up.

"I hate vampires."

"We tend to have a more than mild dislike for werewolves ourselves." The vampire that currently received the brunt of Remus's dislike advanced.

An arm grabbed the werewolf's collar but before the intended action could be completed, Remus brought his own arm around impacting the vampire's elbow, dislocating it. Lupin then twisted the arm snapping it at the shoulder in a decidedly unsportsmanlike fashion. While it was true that vampires were stronger than the human form of their counterpart, the gap was not nearly as wide as was generally believed. In truth, a strong werewolf could have every bit as much pure strength as a moderately powerful vampire.

"I have a more than mild dislike for you." Remus punctuated his statement by planting his foot on the pelvic bone of the Nightstalker, crushing it against the ground. This action would normally put any combatant down for the count, but the vampire considered it only a minor inconvenience. He pushed Remus off and straightened as the bones began to crack back into place. Before Lupin could advance again, he kicked out and sent the werewolf flying.

After landing Remus repeated the same thought he had dozens of times that night. "I really hate vampires." He got up and turned in time to see his opponent charging again. He braced himself for an impact that never came. The vampire found himself intercepted, by a tree. Remus let out a breath of relief. The vampire would not be getting up after that anytime soon. Bracing himself on his knees, he struggled to regain his breath. It was at this point that the bottom of some very familiar and colorful robes came into view.

"I wonder if I might be of some assistance."

"Professor, I think I could use the help."

* * *

Voldemort showed no visible dislike of his given name as he was hiding behind a mask, but Harry knew he was. His scar burned quite obviously.

"Amelia please, we needn't quarrel. Simply step away from the boy. After all, he and I have some unfinished business." This was not the first time Voldemort had attempted to avoid conflict with the Head of the DMLE. It was obvious he would like for her to join his cause.

"Over my dead body."

"I think you'll find that request isn't a wholly unacceptable proposition." Riddle waved his wand behind him, lighting the area. A pair of figures who Harry correctly guessed were Mrs. and Mr. Abbott sat bound to each other. "However, I think you'll find I have a fair deal for you. Step away from Potter and I will allow you to take these pitiful beings with you. How about it? Two for one."

"Unacceptable. Leave immediately. No other acceptable options Tom."

"Amelia, the next time you call me that muggle name I will be forced to make this encounter an unpleasant one."

"Do what you have to do, Tom." Amelia Bones was not, in fact, crazy, though it may seem that she was. Enemies that attack in anger often make mistakes.

"I am Lord Voldemort." Tom Riddle lashed out with a vengeance, but his target was not the Head of the DMLE. The Dark Lord was smarter than that and instead chose a much easier target. Callis was down before he had anytime to react. To her credit, Amelia hesitated only a moment before returning fire. What broke out could only be described as complete and utter chaos.

Bones and Voldemort squared off while Bellatrix and the other two Aurors moved away to initiate their own fight. Harry, meanwhile, attempted to move toward the captured couple. No one noticed his slow progression in their direction.

"Amelia, I must say I'm impressed. You've improved since the last time we did this. However, you are noticeably slower. Is age catching up to you?" The Auror's eye twitched a bit in irritation.

"It might be Tom, but you haven't improved at all. In fact, I must ask you a question. Are you rusty?" Even through the mask, Amelia could see Riddle's eyes narrow. Maybe that wasn't a good idea after all.

While Bones and Riddle dueled, a fight which, despite previous banter, was going decidedly in favor of the Dark Lord, the other two Aurors had Bellatrix Lestrange backing up. While she would most likely defeat either in single combat, both turned out to be a bit of a problem. This difficulty was, predictably, making the insane woman very angry.

* * *

While the chaos reiged, Harry had steadily made his way from shadow to shadow, trying to reach the Abbotts. He was more than half way there before anyone spotted him. Fortunately, the eyes that found him were not Voldemort's, but Amelia's. While she was mildly annoyed that he wasn't listening to her orders, she grudgingly admitted that she would have done the same.

Harry reached the Abbotts and began trying to untie them. He groaned a bit when he saw how complicated their bindings were. While Harry worked, George Abbott could not help his curiosity.

"Harry Potter? What are you doing here?" It wasn't every day that you met 'The Harry Potter.' Of course, Hannah said that he was just a normal boy, but his presence here indicated that was most definitely not true. Normal boys didn't end up in the middle of a duel between He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Amelia Bones. Then again, normal boys usually did not end up in a lot of places that Harry Potter was rumored to have been.

"Uh, sorry Mr. Abbott. It's a long story and we just don't have the time right now." Harry looked up to make sure that they had not been spotted. They had not, but the battle between Bones and Riddle was growing ever more one sided. "We need to get out of here now." Using the skills he had developed with Vector, Harry crushed the remaining restraints to free the Abbotts. Harry helped Mrs. Abbott, who was clearly the more injured of the two, to her feet and began to move away from the duelers. Mr. Abbot followed though at a slower pace.

* * *

Amelia Bones knew she couldn't win this fight. She hoped she would last long enough for help to arrive, but each moment brought her defeat closer and no help had yet arrived. Though her Aurors appeared to have an advantage over Bellatrix, they did not seem to be able to completely defeat her. She saw that Harry had freed the Abbotts and was leading them away. She thanked him for small miracles. That was her last conscious thought. Shortly theereafter, a large piece of what had been a building stone hit her right shoulder and sent the woman crashing to the ground.

Voldemort grinned in victory. The Bones woman laid motionless on the ground. He turned his attention to the original target of this night's actions. "Harry, are you leaving so soon?" The boy stopped and looked back at the battleground. His heart dropped when he saw Riddle standing over Madam Bones. "Awfully rude of you to leave without saying goodbye."

"That's rich coming someone who murders innocent people without thought."

"Ah Harry. So naïve. No one is innocent. Now Harry, I do owe you a slight apology. I confess I lied. I said that you alone could save the Abbotts. You can't; you never could." With barely a wave and whispered word, Voldemort sent a familiar green light at George Abbott.

"No!" Harry dropped Mrs. Abbott in a desperate attempt to reach her husband. He never had a chance. The green light struck the man in the chest and he dropped to the ground as if the strings holding him up had been cut.

"Yes, Harry. From the moment we began down this path there was only one ending." Harry placed himself between the fallen woman and Voldemort to stop him from taking another life. "Admirable Harry, but I have no problem going through you to get to her. In fact, I consider it a bonus." A column of fire rose up beside the Dark Lord. Without warning, it shot at the boy and woman behind him.

Harry ducked, placing his body between the downed Mrs. Abbott and the spiraling inferno streaking at them. His eyes closed as his hand came out before him and he poured all of his magic into shielding the two of them. It worked. When he reopened his eyes, the fire surrounded them but was being held away by some an invisible force. He almost lost his concentration in surprise. Soon enough though, the environment began to heat beyond tolerable temperatures and breathing became hard. Sweat poured off of his body as the effort required to maintain the shield increased.

Voldemort stood surprised himself. He had not thought that Harry Potter could possibly shield and especially for this long, but it was happening. The strain was beginning to drain him but he was sure Potter would falter before he did. Voldemort was right.

Harry was exhausted. The flames were almost upon him and Mrs. Abbott. He lost control. Expecting to be consumed by the conflagration around him, Harry was beyond thankful when he instead felt cold. Water rushed around him soaking him to the bone. Harry had neither the strength nor the will to find his savior. He felt the darkness creep in around him and he welcomed its embrace.

"I do believe that is quite enough, Tom." The voice was unmistakable and Voldemort cursed its existence.

"It's never enough, Dumbledore. Never." Tom Riddle turned his gaze to his old Transfiguration teacher. Dumbledore was flanked by several people, Alastor Moody and the wolf among them.

"In that, you are, and always will be, mistaken. Now you can stay and duel me, but given the energy you have already expended, and my assistance, I would hazard a guess that it is a fight you cannot win. Bellatrix has already retreated. You are alone."

"This is not over Dumbledore." With those last parting words Voldemort disappeared from the street leaving only those members of the Aurors and the Order of the Phoenix standing.

"Quite so, Tom. It has only begun." The headmaster immediately made his way toward Harry hoping that he had not been too late. The man thought that he had seen Harry moving beneath the water before the boy fell. Albus Dumbledore was nearly ecstatic to find that he had been correct. Harry was unconscious but breathing. While several others helped Mrs. Abbott away to receive medical attention, Albus Dumbledore attempted to rouse a boy who had expended so much more energy than was safe in the last few hours. "Harry. Harry. My boy wake. . ." Eventually he was successful and Harry's eyes opened.

"Pr'fessr?" He was weak but alive.

"Harry, I'm going to give you a portkey so we can get you fixed up."

"Portkey! I'm such an wanker." Harry searched his person franticly. When he pulled the paper from a pocket. He couldn't help but stare at it. Occasionally his eyes darted to the prone figure of George Abbott. "This is my fault." Harry looked up at his headmaster with saddened eyes.

"This is not your fault Harry. Voldemort holds responsibility for his own actions." The Professor tried to make his student see reason.

"I could have saved him. I could have." Harry was rambling at this point and lost to the older man.

"Harry. Harry. You are not to blame." Harry shook his head and looked at the Headmaster.

"Safety." Harry disappeared leaving Albus Dumbledore to contemplate where he went.

* * *

Harry arrived at the Ministry of Magic, in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and after the events of the evening, there was enough commotion that his arrival was barely even registered. He quickly made his way out of the crowd and sat down next to a wall outside the door.

It wasn't long before the other people present at the Abbott's home started filtering in. Aurors Mathews and Thompson were the first. Each laid a hand on Harry's shoulder before continuing into the DMLE. Eventually, Madam Bones came limping in looking much worse for wear. Her eyes lit up a bit when she saw Harry. Being told he was alive and seeing it for herself were two very different things. She stopped beside him.

"You didn't listen to me Harry. Thank you." Harry shook his head and refused to look up. After trying for several moments to get Harry to look at her, she put her hand on his cheek and forced his head up. "Harry." She couldn't continue. His eyes were dead. A quick hug before she continued into the office and Harry was left alone again.

Professor Dumbledore was the last to arrive. To his side were Susan Bones and the last person Harry wanted to see at that moment. Hannah was crying on Susan's shoulder. When she caught sight of him, it was if something broke. No one would remember how she got to Harry. All anyone would remember was that at one moment she was crying on Susan's shoulder and the next she was on top of Harry furiously beating her fists into his chest.

"Why! They didn't do anything! They're just people. My dad is dead! DEAD! . . ." For several moments, the shock stopped anyone from reacting. When she was finally pulled off of the boy, his glasses were broken and it was obvious that he would have multiple bruises. Susan pulled Hannah away while Dumbledore tried again to rouse Harry. The headmaster was shrugged off and Harry pulled his knees to his chest once again leaning against the wall. If he would have had the energy, an impenetrable shield would have been up around him. Eventually, Dumbledore gave up and continued inside.

Harry Potter was alone.

* * *

AN: Thought I'd abandoned this story didn't you. I didn't. Writing stopped being fun, so I took a break. That break got longer and longer. So my being lazy is the reason this chapter is so late.

About the chapter. I hope a little over 9,000 words is sufficient. I also hope you don't have too much trouble following the changes in perspective and location. I tried to break those up as best I could.

Main Idea of the Chapter: One of the things that bothers me about the books is that Harry doesn't lose. Really ever. Almost getting your soul sucked out by a Dementor during a quidditch match does not count. Six teenagers being attacked by a dozen Death Eaters all of them surviving with only moderate injuries, but Sirius decides not to take a duel with the most dangerous Death Eater on the planet seriously doesn't count either despite the consequences. So I wanted a situation where Harry screws up. A situation where his choices have real lasting consequences of the negative variety. I also wanted a manifestation of Harry's growing power. Those events became this chapter.


	19. Chapter 18

I think every one realizes that I in no way own Harry Potter or anything other than the general plot relating to the Golden Needle in the ways in which I've changed it from Canon.

AN:Anyone who needs a refresher on events of the story until this point should read the first section. If you don't you can skip it if you wish. I would recommend reading it, but it is not vital to the story. The time stamps were added because my proofreader thought it was difficult to sort out flashback and Harry's present.

* * *

05:23 Greenwich Mean Time December 24, 1995

Harry Potter was alone.

That wasn't necessarily true, but it might as well have been. In reality, Harry was lying awake the morning of Christmas Eve because, as had become the norm, he was unable to remain asleep for more than a few hours. So he just lay there. It had not the best couple of months. And he had thought that the year started fairly well.

Writing the essay about it being possible to transfigure gold was definitely still a positive. He'd learned more about Magic in his morning sessions with Professor Vector than he'd learned about Potions in more than four years with Snape. Harry wondered if he would ever learn anything useful from Snape. Probably not. Magical theory was still mostly a bit beyond him, but his practical was always improving. But he still thought Vector and McGonagall played him like a violin.

Meeting the Bones was now hovering on the fence. Before Halloween it would have been a solid positive, but after. . . It had been nice for awhile to have a few more friends. Susan and Hannah were an interesting duo to say the least. He still would not give up the time he was arrested for anything. Humiliating Umbridge would probably rank as one of the best events of his life. The few days he got out of school were fun too. Getting the Aurors to play paintball was still a major positive. He might have denied it when Wayne threw him under the bus, but he'd take credit for it now. As long as Madam Bones wasn't around.

Starting the DA was still a positive too. He thanked Hermione in passing for it. He was really starting to enjoy teaching everyone. And Tracey and Luna made each session an experience. He laughed lightly at the thought. He wanted to stop there. End with something positive, but he couldn't.

Voldemort and his puzzles. Now that was something Harry wished he could avoid. There were still so many other things about Voldemort that he'd like to live without as well. At the moment, his first wish was to take away Voldemort's recent need to test him. That's what had led Harry to this point. He still had nightmares about Halloween. Every time he dreamed of that night, he tried something different and Mr. Abbott still died. He knew in reality that the situation wasn't completely his fault, but what you know and what you feel are completely different things.

* * *

01:58 Greenwich Mean Time November 1, 1995

After the Professor had left Harry alone, presumably to talk to Amelia and the various others, Harry's mind started to replay the night over and over. Each time he went through it, it all came down to the time between when he reached the Abbotts and the moment Amelia fell. At any point between those two events, had he activated the portkey, he could have escaped with both Abbotts and Amelia could have called a retreat for the Aurors. He had one chance and he missed it.

In time, and Harry had no idea how much, Dumbledore returned.

"Harry, it is time to return to Hogwarts." The professor showed his age, when he kneeled uncomfortably in front of Harry. "Harry, it's time. . ." Harry finally registered his Headmaster's presence and climbed to his feet before helping the professor do likewise. "Grab my arm Harry." After the unpleasant feeling of squeezing and a sharp crack, the two found themselves in Hogsmeade. Harry stared up at the professor in silent questioning. "Ah, Harry forgive me. I did not want to return directly to Hogwarts. I find that a nice walk often has a calming effect, and I think we can both use it. At the same time, I think a conversation could do you and I a lot of good."

"I don't really want to talk about it, professor." Harry turned away and started walking. He wasn't surprised that Dumbledore kept in step, but the bounce in the professor's step was noticeably absent despite his ability to keep up with the younger boy.

"Neither would I, Harry. Never-the-less, I would like you to indulge me this night." Harry tried to say no. He really did, but his voice couldn't find the words.

"What do you want to talk about then?" If he couldn't prevent the conversation then he was going to do his best to avoid it.

"I must ask that you do not allow all the blame for this night to fall on your own shoulders." Harry turned his head and looked at Albus Dumbledore for the first time since they had arrived. The Headmaster's age was showing as much or more than it ever had in Harry's presence.

"I screwed up. If I had just used the portkey. . ." Harry didn't continue, because continuing was unnecessary.

"In my years Harry, I have come to discover that 'if' is very often the most horrible of words. There are so many choices and so many possibilities. This road or that road. These socks or those. So many ways that any situation can begin or end. It is too much for any person to bear."

"That doesn't change the fact." Harry was stubborn, he knew that it could have been better.

"No it does not. Nothing will. But Harry, did you consider that while you did not know that the Abbotts lived on Walbeck Lane, I did?" Harry simply shook his head. "There are, in fact, two wizarding families that live on that street and when I deciphered the very first message, I had guards from the Order stationed at both." Harry thought back; he didn't remember seeing any guards or indications that they had been there.

"If you stationed guards, what happened to them."

"Each mistake that a person makes has a consequence. Some are small and some are large. I made a tremendous mistake tonight. When I received three simultaneous distress calls, I forgot Tom's first warning. Without thinking, I recalled everyone in order to combat the attacks."

"So the homes were left unguarded."

"Indeed." Dumbledore paused.

"I still could have. . ." Harry was interrupted before he finish.

"Yes Harry, you could have. And unfortunately, that is something you will have accept. I cannot take that burden from you, although I dearly wish I could."

"How do I do that, Sir?" The two had stopped walking for the moment.

"Harry, I cannot always answer that question for myself. I wouldn't presume to answer it for you." Dumbledore put a hand on Harry's shoulder as he talked and began walking again as soon as he had finished. Harry hurried to catch up.

"What about Mrs. Abbott?" Harry was hoping that Dumbledore would have good news.

"She has been taken to St. Mungo's for treatment. Currently she is stable."

"So she'll be alright?"

"She has not awakened yet. It is too early to tell, but she has a chance. Thanks to you." Harry was really up to being thanked that night. "If you had not been there, would she have survived?"

"I don't know." That is all Harry was able to get out before Dumbledore interjected.

"No, you do not. I would say that her chances of survival would have been drastically lower had you not accompanied Madam Bones." At this point, Harry and the Headmaster had passed through the castle gates and were headed up to Hogwarts itself. "Harry, I must also ask how you stopped the fire from overcoming both yourself and Mrs. Abbott. An impressive feat considering that your wand had dropped from your right hand and it appeared that you were attempting to use your left to stop the fire." Harry had no clue, he was simply thankful that it had worked.

"I don't really know. I just let go of my magic and hoped it would shield us. When I opened my eyes we were still alive. I almost lost my concentration."

"You consciously held the shield up?" Harry blinked and nodded.

"Fascinating. I believe, based on the shape of the shield and your explanation Harry, that you have just successfully completed the sixth recorded instance of intentional Accidental Magic." Harry was confused by the words intentional accidental.

"What do you mean Sir?"

"I mean exactly what I said Harry. While wandless magic is not unheard of, it is very rare. I also do not believe that it is what you used to create the shield. Your hand was indeed extended as if you were using it as a focus, but the shield did not act like you were. What I saw when I arrived was fire held perhaps three to five inches from any part of your collective bodies. Had you been using your hand as a focus, the strongest part of the shield should have been in front of your hand and the weakest at some point behind you. Additionally it should have taken on a parabolic shape. What I saw was a shield that was of nearly equal strength in all places surrounding you and Mrs. Abbott." The pair were entering the inner gates of Hogwarts by the time the Headmaster finished his rather long winded answer.

"So what does all that mean?" The headmaster chuckled a bit before answering.

"I do not know if it means anything, Harry. I was simply explaining what I believe you did. An impressive feat to say the least."

"Thank you Professor." They had come to stairway up to Gryffindor tower.

"Well Harry, I believe this is where we part ways. I think both of us need a great deal of rest." Harry being nearly exhausted couldn't agree more.

"Good night, Sir."

"Good night, Harry."

* * *

05:32 Greenwich Mean Time December 24, 1995

It wouldn't occur to Harry until much later, but Dumbledore was right. A walk and a conversation had been exactly what he had needed. Fortunately, Harry's exhausted state allowed him to sleep without dreaming that night.

The next morning the story got worse. Again the Ministry had decided to stick its head in the sand. Despite numerous reports from Aurors and witnesses, the Minister had managed to stop the real story from being printed. Harry had arrived at Septima's classroom at the usual time but instead of more work, she immediately sent him back to sleep. Apparently he needed it because he didn't wake up until it was time for lunch. When he arrived, Harry soon thought he should have stayed in bed. The paper Hermione handed him gave him a prominent headache.

* * *

11:13 Greenwich Mean Time November 1, 1995

_Vampires Attack!_

_By: T.D. Notting_

_In an incredible and unnerving turn of events, it appears that_

_the vampires have chosen now to mount their latest assault on_

_the wizarding world. No less that four coordinated attacks on_

_wizarding homes took place last night. Figures have estimated_

_that a dozen vampires were captured or killed while dozens more_

_could have escaped. Exact figures are not known, but it is obvious_

_that Amelia Bones and the Auror corp was taken by complete _

_surprise. Already several prominent citizens have called for the _

_immediate resignation of Madam Bones. Though no motion has_

_been made at this time, it is obvious that there will be an extensive_

_investigation into the latest incident. Madam Bones has in the _

_past been severely criticized for her stances on several important _

_Wizarding issues. However, this is the first time there has been _

_serious doubt in her ability to lead the forces that insure our _

_nations security. The Aurors play an integral part in insuring_

_the safety of each and every wizard or witch in Britain. It is_

_currently unclear whether actions will be taken to remove the _

_current Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

_or DMLE, but it is obvious that serious questions of fitness and _

_ability will be asked over the next few weeks of the investigation._

_Story continued on Page 3B._

_For Director Bones's Service Record see Page 6A._

"That's it? Three sentences and then they spend the entire rest of the article attacking Madam Bones?" Harry slammed the paper onto the table?

"Harry what happened? You weren't back until it was early and then McGonagall told us that you had been excused from class and that you weren't to be disturbed." Hermione might have asked, but it was obvious that more than one person was interested in the explanation.

Harry had spent a decent amount of time explaining the events of the previous night. Some of the people had believed him, but it was evident that a good number had not. Harry idly noticed that neither Susan nor Hannah was there.

* * *

05:37 Greenwich Mean Time December 24, 1995

The sessions with Vector had gotten much better than before. He was still have trouble recognizing magical objects by feel, but the differences were getting more obvious to him. He remembered the first time he was able to identify a gold object.

* * *

08:38 Greenwich Mean Time November 16, 1995

"Alright Harry, you're doing better. Some of these are very similar." She took the object in front of him away and replaced it with . . . nothing?

"I feel nothing." Septima sighed at Harry's declaration. This wasn't going as well as she would have liked, despite his progress.

"That's a problem, Harry, because we need you to be able to identify it. Try again, what do you feel?"

"Nothing." He was being honest.

"Harry, I need you to at least try."

"I don't mean that I don't feel anything. I mean that I feel nothing. It's like there's something there, but there isn't." That wasn't what she expected.

"You feel an absence of something that should be there?" Harry nodded. "Interesting. Try to follow it." The object was picked up and then right. Her right.

"You picked it up and then moved it left." Well that was progress.

"Harry, I think that's enough." He opened his eyes. "This is an interesting development Harry. The first time you were able to sense a gold object, you didn't describe it as nothing." Harry shrugged. "Some explanation would be nice, Harry. I can't understand unless you explain it to me."

"Er. . . I'm not exactly sure how to explain it. It's like . . . everything has two aspects. If there is something there then I can feel it. Then there's something else. I can't describe it, but different objects have different . . . feels, I guess."

"Incredible!" Oh no, the perkiness was coming. She was getting excited for some reason. "Harry, isn't that fascinating. It's like each object or substance or possibly both has some sort of magical texture or mass. Enchanter's have described the differences in magical objects for centuries, but very few of us ever actually get to feel them." Harry just tilted his head as if she was crazy. "You have progressed amazingly if you are starting to feel those subtle differences. Aren't you excited?" Harry didn't react at all. He had long ago found that it was just easier to wait these little Scientist-y moments out. After Septima recognized his current actions she visibly slumped. Her finger twirled in the air a bit. "Yes, wow. We're making such great progress. Woo!" Vector spoke with as much enthusiasm as Snape used when he described grading students papers.

"Yay?" Harry tried to sound excited but he really didn't succeed in any way, shape, or form.

"Sometimes I think you're hopeless, Harry. Absolutely hopeless. Alright, we might as well end on that."

* * *

05:41 Greenwich Mean Time December 24, 1995

In retrospect, he probably should have acted a bit more excited about it. After all, she had explained that it was taking a huge step in their research. Though he wasn't sure exactly how that was supposed to work. Apparently it did though.

The DA had become something he really enjoyed. Though there were definitely uncomfortable moments. Given recent events Hannah and Susan had not been nearly as close to him as before. That was partially his fault, but it went both ways.

* * *

18:57 Greenwich Mean Time November 19, 1995

Harry observed Hannah and Susan practicing Stunning on each other. He was silently thankful that he didn't have to correct either of them. While he was sure that Hannah didn't blame him, or at least completely blame him, it was still very awkward talking to her. Neither was really sure what they should do. Susan, for her part, tried not to interfere in the issues between them and instead attempted to be as much of a friend as she could for both. Since she was a Hufflepuff, this invariably meant spending a lot more time with Hannah than with Harry. A few sentences were about all they spoke to each other at any one time. Harry didn't realize that during his internal reflection his face had adopted a faraway look that someone else did notice. Harry came back to himself just in time in order to duck under a pink light. He rolled forward to avoid the second. His wand was drawn by the time he finished the roll. However, his assailant was already down.

It was . . . Luna?

"Tracey what happened?" Davis, for her part, was the one who had stunned Luna.

"I have no idea. One moment we're sending stunners back and forth, then the next she's firing away at you." Tracey seemed genuinely befuddled.

"Wake her up." Harry kept his wand out, but he doubted he would need it. It was, after all, Luna. Harry had almost enough time to side step the third pink light. Almost.

"That should do it." Luna seemed satisfied. The entire DA was laughing. All except Tracey who simply had her palm to her forehead. Harry knew he would regret it, but he looked down. Yep, Bubblegum pink. His death glare silenced the room. Well, most of them. Hermione and Ron were still laughing uproariously. He made a mental note to punish them. Shortly after that he noticed a bit of movement to his left. Colin Creevey had his camera out. Harry moved before anyone could blink.

"You want to think very carefully about the actions you're about to take." Harry Potter in full fury with his wand underneath your chin turned out to be a very scary thing. Several people in the crowd suddenly understood part of the reason he was considered a threat to the Dark Lord. Colin very nearly lost control of several unpleasant bodily functions. Needless to say, the camera re-shrunk and found itself back in a pocket. "Good choice." Harry turned back to Luna while rubbing his scar. "Luna why is my cloak pink?"

"Because of the Wrackspurts." That seemed to be enough for Luna.

"The Wrackspurts?" Harry seemed to be joining Tracey in the migraine department.

"Oh yes. They were causing your mind to get fuzzy. This will help."

"Wrackspurts are driven away by pink?" Harry tried to put every bit of sarcasm he possibly could in the sentence, but Luna didn't appear to notice.

"Of course not. That would be just silly. They're attracted to it. That way they will stay on your cloak instead of in your mind until we have time to properly get rid of them. I'm afraid I just don't have my removal cream right now." Harry cast a silent finite. Nothing happened.

"Luna?"

"Yes Harry?"

"How long will my cloak be pink?"

"Only a day or so. I'm sure we'll get it taken care of by tomorrow night. Oh, it seems like it's time to go. Bye Harry!" Luna went skipping out of the classroom without another word. The DA began to follow her, but like true friends, Ron and Hermione . . . deserted him too. This day just got better and better.

"Tough luck Potter." Apparently not everyone had left.

"Thanks Tracey."

"Hey, she's my partner." The last part was tossed back to him as the lone Slytherin DA member left the room.

Harry was halfway out of the room when he stopped. Luna couldn't have pranked him. Could she? No, definitely not. He didn't think.

* * *

05:46 Greenwich Mean Time December 24, 1995

Harry was actually pretty sure that she had pranked him. He couldn't prove it, but he was positive. Mostly. Kind of. In reality he would have dismissed the incident entirely except that a couple of weeks later, he arrived at breakfast to a resounding snicker.

* * *

08:53 Greenwich Mean Time December 8, 1995

Harry wasn't totally unsettled by the behavior of his schoolmates, but it put him a little bit on the edge. He wouldn't have to wait long to find out exactly what caused the peculiar behavior. Indeed, Ron couldn't help but throw the morning paper at Harry. He couldn't stop laughing either. Except it wasn't the morning paper. It was the newest edition of _The Quibbler_ and Harry groaned. The cover article was on the spread of Wrackspurts throughout Britain, but Harry knew there had to be more. Sure enough, after flipping several pages, he saw it. It was a picture of him, wearing the pink robe and apparently scowling at a departing Luna Lovegood.

_Pink Is In! And Harry Potter Looks Gooooood!_

_By: Ila E. Scape_

_Photo By: Trey C. D. Nies_

_In part a reaction to the recent infestation of Wrackspurts[1], it has been_

_reported that radical measures[2] have been implemented at Hogwarts._

_Now, as we reported earlier[3] the spread of Wrackspurts throughout the_

_world has reached critical levels. Voluntary treatment[4] to_

_stop the spread of these dangerous and deceptive creatures has hit critical_

_stages. Open Clinics[5] are accepting patients on a no-question, no-answer_

_basis. Letting these miniscule mites spread is contradictory to the health and_

_prosperity of our society. Verifying that you are not a carrier is unquestionably_

_the right choice. End the infestation of our homes and our heads. Many citizens_

_should follow the impeccable example of Harry Potter(picture right). Educating_

_others is the first step but the time for action is now[6]. Not only will you be aiding_

_yourself, but you will also be advocating for the greater good of all. Teach people_

_conservation[7], but protect all from the dangers of serious cranial infestations._

_[1] Looking Through? Wrackspurts and You. Quibbler Issue No. 1618.03.399_

_[2] Under Fire, Taking Color With You. Quibbler Issue No. 3141.59.2653589_

_[3] Noted Changes, Managing Migration. Quibbler Issue No. 3815.95.81777_

_[4] Arriving In You, Pink is the New Blue. Quibbler Issue No. 2718.28.18284_

_[5] Treat the Fuzzy, Take Away the Buzzing. Quibbler Issue No. 1414.21.356_

_[6] Opening Eternity, Secrets of the Instant. Quibbler Issue No. 0017.20.209_

_[7] Observe and Preserve, Worldly Worker. Quibbler Issue No. 0567.14.329_

Harry's right eye twitched. Then the left followed. Students watched with baited breath. Privately several placed quick bets on how many students would be injured. The Weasley twins were of course giving house odds. Even money on between one and three. Then something happened that no one expected. Harry Potter laughed. Not only did he laugh, he fell off the bench and didn't even notice. After taking several minutes to compose himself, Harry reappeared complete with a renewed pink cloak. He took a bow, sent a salute over to the Ravenclaw table, and left. On his way out, he passed Professor Dumbledore, who sported some dismally bright pink robes himself.

* * *

05:56 Greenwich Mean Time December 24, 1995

Harry still chuckled a bit. He knew that Luna was behind it. It was right there in black and . . . well a light yellow, but that's beside the point. The thing was, virtually no one believed him. After all, Luna was crazy. She couldn't create such an elaborate prank. It was simply beyond almost anyone else's belief. What's more, he knew that Tracey had helped. Even fewer people believed him on that. While he wouldn't have expected it, the prank put him in a better mood. He'd had to deal with Malfoy a couple of times, but overall he felt much better than he had just a few weeks before.

The time soon came when people were getting ready to leave for winter break. This year almost everyone would be going home. In times past, there had been several people here to keep him company but, based on the list, he would be the only occupant of Gryffindor Tower over break. He wasn't sure of any other House. With one last Hogsmeade weekend to buy gifts for his friends, Harry had wheedled a late night visit to Gringotts out of Professor Dumbledore. Harry really thought that might be his best accomplishment of the year so far. He had arranged for most of the presents to be delivered Christmas morning.

And all of that brought Harry to his current position of laying in bed Christmas Eve morning. The only current tower resident with nothing to do but wait for the sun to come up. He rolled over. Maybe his sleep would be a little better this time.

Harry Potter wasn't quite so alone after all.

* * *

AN: Obviously a pass through chapter. Nothing too important to any story line happened but I needed to get from point A to point B. Hence this chapter. Bonus points to anyone who can guess what Harry's actually feeling during the Gold section. On a side note, anybody who can remember the Harry's Godmother storyline, that's about to pick back up.

I see from the previous chapter's reviews that people were arguing whether Harry actually lost. I myself would argue that he both did and didn't. The thing about winning and losing is that outside of sports and sometimes within sports, it is really a matter of perspective. Harry believes he lost. To him, despite everything else, he had one chance to save both Abbotts and didn't take it. Any actions taken by others are irrelevant because at that one moment, he messed up. Voldemort on the other hand won, he beat Harry Potter for the first time. He wasn't able to take advantage of it because of Dumbledore's arrival, but he knows he won.


	20. Chapter 19

The monster in his chest was roaring. It said stop running you (Expletive deleted by the Department of Proper Education Standards). You've already said you don't own Harry Potter. People have surely gotten the message by now.

* * *

Normally, Harry Potter would wake up early on Christmas because Ron wouldn't leave him alone until he got up. However, Ron was home at the Burrow and Harry was the only one currently occupying Gryffindor Tower. That was why Harry's current state of not sleeping, most frustrated him. This one day he had planned to sleep until well past ten and not make an appearance outside the tower until his body started to express its need for food. Harry thought this was a truly brilliant plan and truly almost indescribable in its simplicity. Unfortunately She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Acknowledged-By-Name decided, upon hearing of his brilliant and devious plan, that it would not be sufficient. So here he was, walking down to the Diabolical Taskmaster of the Perky Variety's classroom, on Christmas morning. His well earned day of rest and relaxation now only a vague and excessively mourned dream.

"Harry, I'm impressed you're on time. I was sure you'd sleep an extra fifteen minutes just to spite me." Vector's smile told Harry that she absolutely believed he'd be on time despite what she said.

"Yes Taskmaster. I have arrived as requested." Harry popped a the same salute he had previously saved for Amelia Bones.

"Harry, what would you be doing if you weren't here?"

"I would do nothing. It would be fantastic. I would sleep, and when I was done with that I would sleep some more." Harry put as much sarcasm as he could manage at that hour into every word.

"Ah, that's nice. But in a terribly fortuitous sequence of events, you have me. Come on, let's get to work." Vector was, as usual, not fazed by Harry's attempts at swaying her mood. Harry followed her past her desk and over to a table where he would attempt to identify different materials and objects. Closing his eyes he focused on identifying the objects placed on the table. He first felt the oak table and the chairs around him, but they soon dimmed to the background. Soon enough, he found the first object that had been placed in front of him.

"Iron." No confirmation was given, but Harry was sure that he was correct. After several moments, he felt the object move away and another was placed in front of him. "Lead." Again no confirmation, and the object was replaced after several moments. He continued to name each object in succession until Septima was satisfied.

"I'm impressed Harry. You named eighteen of twenty materials correctly and identified both gold objects." Harry was marginally less annoyed with the professor after she congratulated him, but he had realized something during the test.

"Professor Vector . . ." Whatever Harry was going to say was cut off. Harry would mentally berate himself later for only managing to avoid acknowledging her by name for a whole fifteen minutes.

"Septima. Harry, there are less than a dozen other students in this entire school right now and you still can't say my first name on a regular basis. We've been through this!" Vector was a bit exasperated with Harry.

"Septima." Harry paused and waited for the go ahead to continue. When it was given, he continued his question. "Each time we do this it gets clearer."

"That's what we were hoping would happen, Harry."

"That's not what I mean. The objects are easier to find because everything else fades into the background." Harry tried to explain what he felt during these tests. "The rest is still there, but it isn't clear."

"I assume your mind is learning to filter out what isn't important."

Harry had already realized that, but he was looking for an explanation of why it was happening. "I get that. But why?"

"Harry, we walked within two feet of my desk a few minutes ago. Correct?" Harry wasn't sure where the professor was going with this train of thought.

"Yeah." He drug out the word to imply his confusion with her thinking.

"What was on it?" Harry's eyes widened. He started to turn and look, but was stopped by Vector's voice. "Don't look just tell me what you remember."

He didn't remember much.

"You had the gold, a ball, and . . . er . . . some papers, ink, and quills." Vector laughed a little bit.

"You said paper, ink, and quills because those things are always on my desk. How many stacks of paper?"

"Two." Harry shrugged.

"Now look." Harry turned toward the desk and saw that there weren't two stacks of paper, but four. Not only that, but there were also numerous other objects which he hadn't noticed including a very weird looking cube. Vector lead him over to her desk. "First off, it's a sphere Harry not a ball. Second, all of these things are on my desk and your mind only noticed a few." Harry wasn't totally paying attention, he had picked up the strange looking cube, which upon closer inspection was actually a cube within another cube and appeared to turn and twist and rotate, almost as if it was pulling itself inside out. It was mesmerizing. "It's called a tesseract. A hypercube. My seventh years are beginning to study how time affects magic and I use it to demonstrate that time is a fourth dimension."

"Er . . . right."

"Nevermind Harry. You don't take Arithmancy and we won't need to cover it for our research. What you could remember is much more important. The mind is an amazing thing Harry. Look around. All of these things were on my desk, but you remember only two and based on previous experience you believed that there were several others."

"So your point is that I have bad memory." Vector laughed at Harry's response.

"Not at all. My point is that you passed within a couple feet of my desk and while your eyes would have seen everything, your mind decided only a couple of them were worthy of committing to memory. Or perhaps you only understood the significance of a couple. It isn't really known why certain things are committed to memory and why others aren't."

"But some people remember everything." Harry was still pretty convinced that he had bad memory.

"Eidetic memory. Yes, there are people who demonstrate tremendous ability to recall specific details of memory. An impressive ability, but your memory is no less impressive. Think about it. You went right past my desk, caught a split second glimpse of the objects on it, and your mind subconsciously decided what was important to you and what was not with astounding accuracy, and it did it in a matter of moments. You remember the gold because it is important to the research we are doing. Why did you remember the sphere, or ball as you put it?" Harry shrugged in response to Septima's question. "It isn't all that important, but you might think about it."

"Sure. Okay"

"Good. Let's get back to work. You've made good progress with identifying materials and control of your magic, but both still need improvement."

While Harry believed that Vector was unquestionably evil for making him wake up early and work on Christmas, she thankfully did take pity on him and released him after only an hour.

"Alright, I suppose that's good enough for today. I'll let you go for now."

"Thank you!" Vector rolled her eyes.

"Oh, it wasn't that much of burden." Harry had already turned and was walking out the door as Vector spoke. "Harry!" He turned just in time to catch a small projectile. "Happy Christmas Harry."

"Happy Christmas." Harry left, returning to bed to reclaim as much of his lost sleep as he could.

* * *

Other places in the Wizarding world were more excited to be awake for Christmas morning than Harry was in Hogwarts. The ancestral home of the Bones family was not one of them. Ordinarily it would be a festive place; this year was anything but ordinary. The somber mood was due to their current guest. Having fun during a holiday about family, while hosting someone who might lose theirs, tends to be a tough proposition.

"Hannah, it's time to get up." Hannah Abbott was understandably less than excited about this on Christmas morning. She decided that it was more than probable that she would be able to squeeze in another ten minutes of sleep before they came in after her. Thinking this, the young Abbott burrowed deeper into the bed. About ten seconds later, she was summarily smashed into the bed by a surprisingly solid best friend. Said best friend, though Hannah was seriously considering adding a former to the phrase at the moment, promptly rendered her immobile by laying down upon said Abbott, thus insuring that Hannah would not be getting anymore sleep that morning.

"I'm gonna shove your face in the punch bowl, Bones." Hannah's voice signaled her semi-surrender. After all, shoving your best friend's head in a punch bowl would require her to get up.

"Ah, you say the nicest things to me. It's too bad you're trapped."

"Wanna bet?" Hannah started to struggle, trying to throw the other girl off of her, but being restricted by several layers of bedding made every attempt futile. "I won't be trapped forever, Bones."

"Ah, that's nice. Too bad you'll have to catch me first." Susan was off and running, and was through the guest room door in a flash with Hannah only a few seconds behind. Susan increased her lead down the hallway and again down the stairs. Reaching the sitting room with a comfortable lead, well ahead of Hannah, Susan stopped to celebrate. Her skin got noticeably whiter when she saw Hannah enter the room at full speed and go airborne. Amelia Bones, alerted by the commotion of the two teens, entered the room just in time to see Hannah complete one of the finest rugby tackles the Director had ever seen. Luckily, the two girls landed on a very well placed couch and a very uncomfortable Jason Bones.

"Oomf," stated a the surprised man. After taking a few moments to reclaim his breath, he asked what he felt was an obvious question. "Sus, what did you do?"

"Me, it was Hannah." The two girls were still fighting it out a little bit on the floor, but Susan stopped for a couple seconds to answer him. Unfortunately, that break allowed Hannah a few seconds to recover.

"Sus, I know it was you. You've been the instigator since you were five years old and you put pink food coloring in my shampoo."

"That wasn't me." Susan's ability to talk was inhibited by her face being shoved not-so-lightly into the floor, but Jason understood her none-the-less.

"Right. Of course, it wasn't. It must have been that other five year old girl with pink food coloring and access to my shampoo."

"It was. Ow, Hannah that's my hair." It appeared that Hannah was now attempting to braid Susan's hair in the most painful way possible.

"Sus, your fingers were pink." Jason began to present his evidence.

"Circumstantial. My fingers were always pink."

"You bragged about it to Aunt Amelia."

"Hearsay. Verbal evidence given while not present." Susan had gotten quite good at this game over the years.

"I was in the room!" So had Jason.

"No, you weren't!"

"Yes, he was." Amelia made her first foray into the conversation. "It was all I could do not to start laughing as you told the story."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Amelia shrugged in response.

Things settled down for a bit while everyone arranged themselves to open the assembled pile of Holiday Cheer. Hannah might have cracked a smile when she unceremoniously shoved Susan's face into the floor, but now her somber mood was back. Presents were opened in a free-for-all until a knock on the door roused Amelia from the melee. Opening the door revealed a slightly disheveled Hogwarts' groundskeeper.

"Hagrid, what brings you to my door on Christmas morning?"

"Mornin' Amelia, Harry asked me to deliver some presents for him." Sure enough, his oversized arm secured several wrapped packages. After handing them to Amelia, Hagrid tipped his hat. "Happy Christmas Madam Bones. I've got to head off to the Weasley's."

"Happy Christmas, Hagrid." Amelia returned with the packages. Entering the sitting room, she was relieved to see that most of the craziness had subsided. "It appears that we have a couple of late arrivals." Handing a package to Susan and one to Hannah, she retook her seat on the couch to wait.

Susan immediately set upon unwrapping hers. After tearing the colored paper into fifteen or twenty small pieces, a book was revealed. Strangely no title or author appeared on the front cover or spine. Curious, Susan opened it to find a message from the giver on the inside of the front cover.

_Susan, I thought you might be able to use_

_this to brighten the moods of others_

_the way you did for me once._

_Harry Potter_

Every page turned out to be blank. While Susan wasn't what she'd call artistic, she would make sure to thank Harry when she next saw him.

Hannah had moved as quickly and had barely removed the wrapping when Susan had finished. It appeared that she had also received a book. Hers was thicker and square. Unlike Susan's, a card was attached to the cover rather than a message on the inside.

_Hannah, I wasn't sure if you would appreciate_

_a gift from me, but I thought that you might be_

_able to use this. A friend once gave me one,_

_and it often helps me to feel closer to my parents._

_I hope it will help you feel closer to your dad._

_Harry Potter_

She might have broken out in tears, remembering, but even as she did, the currently empty photo album was clutched to her chest.

* * *

Back at Hogwarts, Harry was newly re-awakened by another solid form landing much as Susan had on her friend. He grumpily opened his eyes to view a very particular, large black dog.

"Sirius!" His exclamation brought about a big wet lick from the transformed animagus. "Eww. Did you have to do that?" Sirius didn't answer but another voice rang out in the dim light.

"I thought you might appreciate some time with this stray dog I found during a recent trip of mine." Dumbledore spoke in a light tone.

"Thanks professor."

"You're welcome, Harry. I must warn you though, we seem to be having problems with spooks and I have ordered students to return to their dorms for a few hours. It would be a shame if they ran into a couple of wild animals while roaming the halls."

Harry grinned. What followed would be one of the best afternoons in Harry's memory. Remus, who had tagged along because Sirius needed supervision, served as referee for most of it. Harry did, for a time, act like, and in many ways was, a normal teenager. Unknown to the three people currently tearing up the courtyard, two sets of eyes watched from a walkway above.

"Do you think this will provide the escape you advised?" The old wizard looked to his feline accomplice. The feline was soon replaced by a stately old witch.

"It will suffice for now."

"Much has been placed on his shoulders, but now the burden appears lighter."

"Tomorrow, he will remember. It is good that he forgets today."

"I do hope the next time you have one of these ideas, you'll be a bit less forceful." Minerva chuckled in response.

"Albus, sometimes you need to remember that the business end of my wand does carry a little weight behind it." Now, Albus Dumbledore was the one who let out a laugh.

"I don't believe I have ever forgotten."

The three "children" continued to play, never noticing the presence of the elder watchers.

* * *

Amelia Bones was a bit nervous. It wasn't a feeling she was used to having. She had always been a little anxious before a battle, but this was different. The original plan had been to take Hannah to see her mother after dinner, but that plan was modified after the arrival of Hagrid and the delivery of the presents. She and Susan had held a quiet conversation away from the young Abbott and decided that maybe it would be good to begin filling the photo album while at St. Mungo's. While Susan and Hannah had flooed to the hospital with Jason, Amelia had made a quick detour to the Abbott residence to locate some family photos. Luckily, the photographs had not been that hard to locate. However, neither Susan nor Amelia was quite sure how this idea would be received when presented to Hannah. So that was how it came to be that Amelia Bones stood outside the door of a private room, hands full with a box of photos and an album, wondering whether she should enter or not.

"Aunty, aren't you going to come in?" Susan's voice broke Madam Bones from her thoughts.

"Yes, I'm coming." Entering with box in hand, Amelia made her way over to Hannah. "Hannah, you don't have to, but Susan and I thought you might like to fill in a few pages of your album while you were here." For a few moments, it looked like Hannah would rather do anything else, but eventually she nodded silently. The box was placed on the floor, and no one moved. Several silent moments passed before Susan made the first move toward the box. She shuffled photos around before picking one out.

"Hannah remember this? Your dad took us to the football game. He tried to get us to appreciate it, but we kept asking why not just watch a quidditch match." Finally, it seemed that Hannah would participate because she quickly nodded and joined Susan, beginning to look through the photos. Soon enough, both girls were engrossed in looking through photos. Amelia let out a breath she had been partially holding in and took a few photos to look at herself.

The group worked primarily in silence for several hours. Every few minutes, Hannah and Susan would discuss a photo, remembering the day, and Jason would put in a couple words every now and then. Amelia simply took a stack of photos and looked through them and when she was done, passed them back to the girls. The box was being steadily emptied as photos got strewn across the floor, chairs, and any manner of furniture that wasn't occupied. On Amelia's fifth stack of photographs, she came across something strange. The object wasn't strange; it was, after all, a photo and she had been looking at them for several hours and the subject wasn't strange either. It was a family and she had been looking at family photos. The who, however, was strange. The family wasn't Hannah's, rather it was Harry's. A perfectly normal family, Lily standing next to James and holding Harry who was wrapped in a blanket.

"Why would they have this picture?" she muttered, softly enough that it didn't attract the attention of the rooms other occupants. Several conclusions were reached in quick succession. Amelia judged all of them to be wrong, for she knew there must be something more. Every time she thought she had it, it disappeared and her mind began to hurt. Amelia, quickly, became aware of the implications. "Jason, take Susan and Hannah home when they finish." Without another word, Amelia hurried out the door.

It didn't take her long to reach the floo connection for St. Mungo's, and when she did, most of the hospital knew it. "Hogwarts" Amelia Bones was gone.

Albus Dumbledore had long since returned to his office and was currently looking through several reports, but whatever he might have been doing was derailed by an irate Head of the DMLE.

"Dumbledore, I swear to Merlin, if you don't let me in, I will redecorate this hallway until you do." After quickly wondering what he had done to acquire the ire of the formidable Madam Bones this time, he did, indeed, open the way for Amelia's arrival.

"Amelia, to what do I . . ." Whatever he might have said was lost because Amelia was in no mood to trade pleasantries.

"No! Don't speak! I don't know why I didn't think of it before. You didn't obliviate the existence of Harry Potter's godmother away. How could you? There would be no way to insure that everything was taken care of. You'd be almost guaranteed to miss some one along the way. No, you had to do something else. I can't believe I missed it. You somehow put the information under a Fidelius Charm. Somehow, without hiding the person, you managed to hide the knowledge." After finishing her rant, Amelia stood staring at the Headmaster with a look of blatant accusation.

Dumbledore sighed. "You are correct. A curious charm, the Fidelius. I would dare to say that there is no other quite like it. Truly, I doubt that Denton had any idea what he had created."

"How?"

"It comes down to the wording and the subject, Amelia. Hiding a person or a building is a simple act of trust, but hiding information from the person who owns it is much more complicated. Putting enough trust in someone that you allow them to hold knowledge dear to you is a difficult thing to do."

"But it can be done, obviously, because you did it. Linda is . . ." Amelia fought against the charm.

"Linda Abbott is Harry Potter's godmother." The knowledge unlocked memories that had been hidden from Amelia for more than a decade. Lily Evans and then Linda Price had been friends at Hogwarts. Upon Harry's birth James picked Sirius as Harry's godfather and Lily picked Linda as his godmother.

"Does he know?"

"No, I haven't told him. I had been debating whether I should tell Harry since you first confronted me about his guardianship, but Halloween made the decision for me. Should I tell him now? The blame he still reserves for himself would magnify a dozen times over." Dumbledore appeared to be truly asking Amelia for her opinion. She didn't have an answer.

"I don't know. It is his right, and hers."

"Yes, it is. Yet, I still cannot see a way of revealing the knowledge now would not bring more harm, at least in the the short run, than it would bring good."

"They should still know, even if no one else does." Albus didn't reply.

* * *

AN: Another chapter down and the mystery is solved. Dun-dun-Duh! Anyway the chapter moves the story forward. Don't have a whole lot to cover in this Author's Note, but let's get to it. Several (many) people have commented on Harry's struggles with what seem to be fairly simple concepts and that it makes him seem dumb. There are three primary reasons for this. First, Harry hasn't had a math class since he was ten. I'm not from Britain, but that's what . . . fractions? It's really funny how mathematically deficient the magical world would be. Second, if I got out my Physics and Calc books and started going through complex equations, people would hate me. Third, I'm not a chemist or physicist. I'm a computer scientist. It's easy for me to create codes and puzzles to solve, but coming up with magical theory from scratch is a bit beyond what I'm used to.

I do wanna give a shout out to silverlasso. Wrong. But good try. You lost me somewhere around echolocation but I'll take your word for it.


End file.
